In the footsteps of IT greats
Expanding its horizon, beyond Brunei: A logo of Bruneian company Expansys Technologies on a car rear windshield. Picture: BT/Debbie Too
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Brunei IT firm Expansys sets eyes on overseas markets, Debbie Too reports
"WE'RE thinking that we should start developing our own stuff (IT products) here and bring it to other companies around the world."
So says 27-year-old Keeran Janin, managing director of Expansys Technologies, a Bruneian firm that traces its beginnings to creating mobile IT (information technology) services at his home. Well, you know how Bill Gates developed Microsoft in his garage and Sergey Brin and Larry Page created Google at home, so lower those eyebrows now.
"The company started in 2005 when I joined Cipta (Creative, Innovative Product and Technology Advancement) Awards and won. I was working with B-Mobile for a while and had an IT background, and was working in telecommunications, which I quite liked," says Janin.
He decided to develop his own programs and used his $6,000 prize money from the Cipta Awards to begin his venture at home.
"It started out with me and a couple of old school friends, and we started building mobile websites for B-Mobile. We used the experience that we had and we knew people from B-Mobile and Telbru and used those contacts to get started offering some unique services."
Customising products and his knowledge in the market gave him an advantage in the beginning, he says.
"I knew that these companies would bring in products from China and Europe and I knew how much they were bringing them in for, so I thought, since we know how to make them, we sold it at a quarter of the price and customised it to exactly how they wanted it," says Janin.
"Because there were just a few of us working from home, so everything was cheaper for us to do, so we made a couple of those for Telbru, and that's where we got our stepping stone."
Expansys is now based at the iCentre in Anggerek Desa as a so-called business incubatee, and has doubled and tripled its revenues over the years. Janin says the iCentre has helped Expansys widen its reach.
"The iCentre helped us get from that growth stage from home, to our own office to the iCentre. Our main goal has always been a lot bigger and not to be a mom and pop forever," he adds.
The move to the iCentre came when they heard about it from their friends in B-mobile and saw an opportunity to bridge the company to the next step.
"We spent nine months at home building up, until we got our first office in Serusop. From there we grew and expanded all of our mobile services and our revenue grew to a point where we could employ more staff," he says.
Now with eight people at the iCentre, Janin says that the major challenge for them would be "crossing the chasm", which he says is one of the major challenges in Brunei. "The IT industry is mainly a service-based industry, where the main clients are the government, the main telcos and smaller companies, but all they seem to be doing is bringing in a product (developed overseas) to put into Brunei," he observes.
The trend in Brunei seems to be that companies bring these products (such as broadband or 3G technology) in and support them to the end of their lifespan when the next generation will walk in, he says.
"Brunei is so small that you can't develop a brand new 3G system just for Brunei, it doesn't make sense, so that's not exactly what I want to do."
The 27-year-old managing director says that Brunei already has established companies who have been around for 15-20 years, who already have contacts of their own and know how to run the tender process.
"For us to get to a stage like that will take about 15-20 years, and I don't want to wait that long, so we're thinking that we should start developing our own stuff here and bring it to other companies around the world."
He said that his goal is that there should be an agent in other countries who will want to market Expansys products, however, for them to get to that point may be difficult.
"The major thing that would be needed is funding, but luckily in Brunei, there are sources of funding and it's just a matter of tapping them; but another is human resources. To get the talent, and Brunei does have the talent to build these things, get a hold of them and retaining them is unique in itself because the environment here of sticking to a particular job is non-existent," he says.
What has made it easy for Expansys, says Janin, is that once he's found the right people he can just focus on building the product instead of learning from the business process which most startups have to go through.
"The Brunei Economic and Development Board (BEDB) and the iCentre are there to tell us the mistakes that people make and educate us so we don't make them, and get to concentrate on our products," he adds.
Janin says he hopes to see Expansys become a household name and an example to everyone else in Brunei where they don't have to follow the old style, and that they can be a Bruneian company that is global.The Brunei Times
"WE'RE thinking that we should start developing our own stuff (IT products) here and bring it to other companies around the world."
So says 27-year-old Keeran Janin, managing director of Expansys Technologies, a Bruneian firm that traces its beginnings to creating mobile IT (information technology) services at his home. Well, you know how Bill Gates developed Microsoft in his garage and Sergey Brin and Larry Page created Google at home, so lower those eyebrows now.
"The company started in 2005 when I joined Cipta (Creative, Innovative Product and Technology Advancement) Awards and won. I was working with B-Mobile for a while and had an IT background, and was working in telecommunications, which I quite liked," says Janin.
He decided to develop his own programs and used his $6,000 prize money from the Cipta Awards to begin his venture at home.
"It started out with me and a couple of old school friends, and we started building mobile websites for B-Mobile. We used the experience that we had and we knew people from B-Mobile and Telbru and used those contacts to get started offering some unique services."
Customising products and his knowledge in the market gave him an advantage in the beginning, he says.
"I knew that these companies would bring in products from China and Europe and I knew how much they were bringing them in for, so I thought, since we know how to make them, we sold it at a quarter of the price and customised it to exactly how they wanted it," says Janin.
"Because there were just a few of us working from home, so everything was cheaper for us to do, so we made a couple of those for Telbru, and that's where we got our stepping stone."
Expansys is now based at the iCentre in Anggerek Desa as a so-called business incubatee, and has doubled and tripled its revenues over the years. Janin says the iCentre has helped Expansys widen its reach.
"The iCentre helped us get from that growth stage from home, to our own office to the iCentre. Our main goal has always been a lot bigger and not to be a mom and pop forever," he adds.
The move to the iCentre came when they heard about it from their friends in B-mobile and saw an opportunity to bridge the company to the next step.
"We spent nine months at home building up, until we got our first office in Serusop. From there we grew and expanded all of our mobile services and our revenue grew to a point where we could employ more staff," he says.
Now with eight people at the iCentre, Janin says that the major challenge for them would be "crossing the chasm", which he says is one of the major challenges in Brunei. "The IT industry is mainly a service-based industry, where the main clients are the government, the main telcos and smaller companies, but all they seem to be doing is bringing in a product (developed overseas) to put into Brunei," he observes.
The trend in Brunei seems to be that companies bring these products (such as broadband or 3G technology) in and support them to the end of their lifespan when the next generation will walk in, he says.
"Brunei is so small that you can't develop a brand new 3G system just for Brunei, it doesn't make sense, so that's not exactly what I want to do."
The 27-year-old managing director says that Brunei already has established companies who have been around for 15-20 years, who already have contacts of their own and know how to run the tender process.
"For us to get to a stage like that will take about 15-20 years, and I don't want to wait that long, so we're thinking that we should start developing our own stuff here and bring it to other companies around the world."
He said that his goal is that there should be an agent in other countries who will want to market Expansys products, however, for them to get to that point may be difficult.
"The major thing that would be needed is funding, but luckily in Brunei, there are sources of funding and it's just a matter of tapping them; but another is human resources. To get the talent, and Brunei does have the talent to build these things, get a hold of them and retaining them is unique in itself because the environment here of sticking to a particular job is non-existent," he says.
What has made it easy for Expansys, says Janin, is that once he's found the right people he can just focus on building the product instead of learning from the business process which most startups have to go through.
"The Brunei Economic and Development Board (BEDB) and the iCentre are there to tell us the mistakes that people make and educate us so we don't make them, and get to concentrate on our products," he adds.
Janin says he hopes to see Expansys become a household name and an example to everyone else in Brunei where they don't have to follow the old style, and that they can be a Bruneian company that is global.The Brunei Times
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