Local entrepreneur inspired by 'IT Zuse'

A LOCAL entrepreneur with his own startup in Brunei's Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector has returned to Brunei from a 12-month "ICT scholarship" in Germany with the aim of developing his own mobile phone application.

Thomas Tan Chow Siang, 39, Chief Technical Officer and owner of TT Mobile Solutions, was among 10 people chosen worldwide to take part in the Konrad Zuse Scholarship Programme, a fellowship programme initiated in 2008 and aimed at assisting young, talented entrepreneurs from around the world to successfully start up an ICT business in their home countries.

"I am happy that I had the chance to go to Germany and get the exposure on how economic superpowers like Germany compete at their level," he said, adding he could now use the experience and knowledge gained to make the right studies and analysis on what would make a viable product in Brunei.

A specialist in developing mobile phone software, Tan said that the programme not only focused on academic learning, but also geared towards business builders. "It is not just academic. It also targeted candidates who want to build their own IT companies in their own country," he said.

Specifically, Tan had the opportunity to work with Madvertise, a leading German mobile advertising specialist.

Tan intends to use his experience develop a mobile phone application for the consumer market. "Mobile phone is very powerful. People use it for texting (short messaging text), emailing and web surfing," he said, adding that through mobile phone applications, people could take advantage of services provided on the Internet.

The programme, named after German professor Konrad Zuse, much considered to be the inventor of the first modern computer, is fully sponsored by the German government.

Dr Thomas Bruns, German Ambassador to Brunei, said, "I'm very happy that out of the many applications we received worldwide, Brunei was among those awarded (scholarships)."

The Brunei Times