Brunei online entrepreneurs want PayPal

BRUNEI'S lack of a reliable online payment system such as PayPal has stifled growth of some local enterprises that rely on receiving payments online.

It would be a big boost for online businesses based in the Sultanate if PayPal, the world's largest online payment network, were available here, young entrepreneurs say.

"Of course if you have PayPal, you're opening up yourself to a global market, and you have a larger slice of the (market) pie," said Syazwana Harun, owner of Brownies by Sas, an online bakery. "Even if you have an online business and don't ship overseas, you want your customers in Brunei to have another option of payment."

Brunei is currently one of the countries where PayPal is not available, and Reeda Malik, general manager of TelBru e-government business, said that one of the possible reasons is Brunei's market size.

"Usually a payment gateway as big as PayPal would need to be connected directly to the banks, and Brunei is just probably too small a market for them to (make it) available here, so most customers who purchase items online would have PayPal accounts in other countries," he said.

"PayPal would open up the whole world of online business to Brunei because it's the most widely trusted form of online payment," said Keeran Janin, director of Expansys Technologies, which recently launched YouGotSnapped, an online photo purchasing application for Facebook which utilises PayPal. At the moment Expansys makes local payments using bank cheques, but those with PayPal accounts in other countries can receive or make payments with their PayPal account.

"(Should PayPal be available in Brunei) all of the hundreds of 'cottage industry' people selling their goods online (from) Brunei would now be able to scale worldwide," he said. Asked how this could happen, Janin said that a "fairly stable large company in Brunei could approach PayPal and introduce a payment gateway here. TelBru is an example of one which is in a prime position to do this".

Reeda said that TelBru has a payment gateway that has been set up early this year in April, where local residents can make payments online and have it linked directly to their bank account.

"We are linked to four of the major banks in Brunei," he said.

At the moment the EPG (electronic payment gateway) that is being provided by TelBru, has three merchants, 24-7 Roadside Assist, Intrepid Tours and QQeStore.

"If PayPal was available in Brunei, a lot of the online businesses would be able to even target the regional market," said Rano Iskandar, owner and director of Ranoadidas.com.The Brunei Times