Halal accreditation system, e-commerce win ThinkBig

BUSINESS plans for a system to help firms in getting halal accreditation and an e-commerce directory tied for the grand prize of this year's ThinkBig Business Plan competition.

In a press statement issued yesterday, iCentre, the contest's organiser, said judges awarded the joint grand prize to Mimit-E-Technology for its Go Halal project and Freedomsoft for its E-Commerce Directory project.

Both walked away with $15,000 each.

Mimit E-Technology also won the Special Merit Award for ICT-based Islamic application with an additional cash prize of $5,000.

Hj Rushdi El-Hakim Dato Hj Ibrahim, managing director of Mimit E-Technology, said "We were actually shocked when we were called to win the grand prize. We were targeting to win the Islamic category then when we got the call it just made things so worth it that our effort has been paid off, the sleepless nights we had and so on."

Abdul Hadi Embran, the company's marketing director, said, "We do not mind sharing the prize, and we feel that it is good to know that we have youth who are now developing applications as Brunei has limited ICT human resources."

King Seh Horng, of Freedomsoft, on their E-Commerce Directory Site project, said "This programme is to help us encourage people to be involved in e-commerce. We tried to combine it into a platform and the programme is just like a directory where people can browse and search for products by several merchants, like an online store."

His partner, King Seh Haur, said, "It is not exactly like eBay but there will be more features than eBay forums and stuff people can discuss."

Both said they will be investing most of the money from their winnings into developing the programme.

The award ceremony was attended by Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Dewa Major General (Ret) Dato Seri Pahlawan Hj Mohammad Hj Daud, the minister of energy. "Today, we are already witnessing our younger generations endowed with vitality, creativity and dynamism, that if optimally exploited, could contribute significantly to national achievement," said the minister. He added that the role of the youth today in shaping today's "society and business environment is becoming increasingly evident, giving them unprecedented opportunities to take charge of their learning processes and seek to adapt, adopt and leverage different possibilities to harness their own skills".

Crescent Sdn Bhd, helmed by Hjh Salma Hj Abdul Latif, won the third prize and $5,000 for a business plan on an educational programme which would allow individuals to get their Master's degree in Islamic Banking and Finance.

"The aim of doing this was to get a global reach and I can get that through the Internet. The reason was to ensure that the right Islamic knowledge is passed into the market system because now, a lot of banks have curved and bent certain syariah rules to get their products out in the market," she said. She added that her winnings will go into her capital for her business, and that she went into the competition also to bring publicity to her product and to let the public know that such a product will be available soon.

Dato Paduka Timothy Ong, acting chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board, said, "I am very encouraged by this year's ThinkBig competition. The number of participants have gone up from 39 to 50 and I am very encouraged by the participation in the students category."

He added, "I hope that after this competition they will have less problems, but only the future will give us the answer. Each success brings new challenges and it is a journey. I'm very pleased (the winners) have got to this point and I wish them the very best in the next stage," he said.

"I'm a great believer in young people, and I believe that the young people have much greater potential than we sometimes give them credit for," said Dato Paduka Ong. He said that what was needed for the youth was "encouragement and the environment to encourage them to excel".

Dr Lily Chan, the chief executive officer of NUS Enterprise, and Edmund Yong, managing partner to Accel-X, and ICT venture capitalist, both addressed the audience at the event as well.The Brunei Times