BAG grooms leaders, widens talent pool

BUSINESS is brutal, and nowhere more so than a limited and constricted economy than Brunei's.

Locally groomed ICT solutions provider, BAG Networks, which recently celebrated it's 10th anniversary, is paving the way for a stronger human resources pool in the local ICT industry via strong forward leadership.

At the helm of the burgeoning ICT business, its Chief Executive Haslina Taib, is helming and grooming a group of young, dedicated locals who all agree strong leadership and forward thinking are just some of the key elements that have helped to build not only the company's strength, but their own.

It started off with just one project, the Treasury Accounting and Financial Information Systems (Tafis) project, said Farisan Rakawi, who works at BAG's technical division.

"Initially, we started in 2001. BAG was formed due to (Tafis)," he said, where the company handled the implementation, operation and maintenance phases of the system which is currently being used by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). Farisan credits much of the team's successes and current projects to Haslina, who took on the position of CEO four years ago.

"She's very aggressive, I must say. So, under her leadership, basically she tries to introduce more projects for the building of the company, as well as the nation."

Syed Ahmad Fawwaz Dato Paduka Malai Hj Ahmad Murad, Business Development executive at BAG, added that Haslina "really pushes these ideas" although it can sometimes seem like an "uphill battle" as the CEO tries to change traditional or conventional thinking.

Being a part of an entity that is tuned towards making a difference has been tremendously beneficial for himself as an employee, said Fawwaz, "seeing the growth of Brunei, the ICT industry (and) it's nice to be part of something that's different".

The transition of companies to adopt a more proactive and human-resource development role is clear all agreed, as is evident in BAG's corporate culture.

Farisan agreed saying that at the end of the day, "It depends on the individual actually, and their willingness. If you have the leadership of an individual who's willing to push you forward, then you tend to follow that.

"If you have a leader who's just comfortable being in the comfort zone, then you'll be comfortable in your comfort zone till God knows when!"

Basically, it has been proven that it's never the quality of the product, it's the energy of your appetite to deliver, he said.

Hjh Siti Rozana Dato Paduka Hj Mohd Yunos, the company's human resource team leader, said, "If (businesses) can inculcate that culture to perform, then you'll find that a lot of people will begin to step up and actually start taking charge of things."

In the event BAG do not win projects, she said, Haslina "will be a responsible leader and say, 'I had a part to play in this too. All of us had a part to play in this and we have to learn from it"'.

Haslina is very forward-thinking in that sense, Hjh Siti Rozana added.

But that uphill battle is still there all agreed, with the biggest problems being infrastructure and lack of IT specialists in the country.

"I think the weakest link here is infrastructure, I mean, coming from a technical standpoint, we are limited to the infrastructure that we have. It's like you don't have enough highways but you drive a Ferrari, what's the point?"

You can have the latest servers, you can have the most high-end products for computing, she added, "but if you don't have the infrastructure, it's limited".

Hjh Siti Rozana also said that from a people point of view, "You can take a degree in computing, (but later) say 'I hate it'. So one of the challenges in IT, is finding people who are passionate about wanting to work in IT and who have studied for it and who are specialists ... I think if we have more IT specialists then perhaps growing IT and the use of IT, you can rely less on experts coming into Brunei from outside, and truly embrace what it means to really utilise your locals here."

Culturally, none knows better than the local employees do on how things work here, she added, which is why building long-term experience and expertise in the industry is important.

"As employees, we still need the experience," she said, saying that even for BAG, the need for long-term experience in the IT industry is important to building on the local human resources pool not just within the company itself but for the nation.

The Brunei Times