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ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Developing local businesses
Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) was established
to develop micro, small and medium enterprises
(MSMEs) into resilient drivers of economic growth.
As part of its capacity building initiatives, DARe
conducts several programmes to help aspiring
entrepreneurs and start-ups run their business
effectively.
The Micro Bootcamp programme is aimed at youth
looking to start a micro business, which is de ned
as an enterprise with four or less employees.
Meanwhile, the Accelerate Bootcamp brings
in the private sector, experts and established
entrepreneurs to train and mentor participants on
their entrepreneurial journey.
Business owners and employees may also join the
Industry Business Academy by DARe to learn new
business skills such as nance, human resources
management, marketing and other business
disciplines.
Another initiative by DARe is the Brunei Mentors
for Entrepreneurs Network (BMEN), which brings
together successful entrepreneurs, industry
experts, professionals and academia who share
their knowledge and mentor growing businesses.
DARe also assists MSMEs by providing them with
opportunities to meet investors through pitching
sessions. Speaking in November 2020, DARe Chief
Executive Of cer (CEO) Javed Ahmad shared that
about BND1 million has been raised by MSMEs
through DARe over the past nancial year.
At present, there are 25 industrial sites across all
four districts managed by DARe. The industrial sites
provide a large area of space for manufacturing
or service activities. DARe also has ready-built
factories and co-working space for businesses.
Market access
Through the Standards Consultancy Programme,
companies may receive consultancy and training
from DARe to attain international certi cation such
as ISO 22000 for food companies and ISO 9001
for logistics companies. In addition to assuring
the quality of their products and services, the
certi cation also prepares companies to expand
their business overseas. DARe also works closely
with government agencies to facilitate companies
that are ready to network with big players outside
of the country to grow their business with an aim
to export.
Responding to the pandemic
For safety measures during the pandemic, DARe
divided their staff into two groups, each taking
turns to work in the of ce or from home on a
weekly rotation. “With modern technology we
were able to adapt fairly quickly, with Zoom
and Teams, which are becoming the tools of
the trade,” shared the DARe CEO. “That was of
course extremely important, but this was also a
time when we felt that businesses were under
tremendous stress.”
In order to help local businesses, the Buy Local
Produce campaign was held in collaboration with
the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoFE),
Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), Ghanim
International Corporation Sdn Bhd and DARe. The
campaign enabled farmers to sell their produce
to retailers when markets across the nation were
temporarily closed due to the pandemic.
Recent achievements and plans for 2021
Towards developing its own team of consultants,
DARe has had its team members work side by
side with business advisory experts from various
industries as they assist local businesses.
“We have built our capability whereby within a
period of one year, we can run these things in-
house,” said the DARe CEO.
One of DARe’s approaches is identifying the areas
of strength and improvement within a business,
followed by developing a framework. “So we
provide two advantages. One is through advisory
and consultancy, the other is analysis, but ultimately
we are looking at the same aspect,” said Javed.
He added that DARe hopes to develop a group of
consultants “who can mentor, coach and analyse
businesses, or do a thorough analysis and come
up with a set of recommendations that can make
a major impact of the business”. The CEO also
noted that DARe has sped up its process of helping
companies attain the ISO certi cation. In the last
one and a half years, 14 companies have been ISO
certi ed, with more in the pipeline.
“This is something that traditionally we were
getting a few companies certi ed every year as a
country,” said Javed. He added that DARe is looking
into further speeding up its certi cation process to
ensure quality products for the domestic market
meet the requirements for export.
This year, DARe is looking at a number of initiatives
at the MSME level to generate opportunities. “One
area that we have been working again, in a joint-
up manner with the Brunei Economic Development
Board (BEDB), the MoFE and Brunei Shell Petroleum
Co Sdn Bhd, is developing the marine cluster, as
well as decommissioning,” shared the DARe CEO.
“There are a lot of other initiatives in other industries
where we want to not just leave it to entrepreneurs,
but play some nudging role in making these things
happen,” he continued. The CEO also expects
DARe’s advisory service to accelerate substantially.