| Danial Norjidi |
A CROWD-FUNDING platform called ‘CrowdSource’ was recently named the winner of the open category in the first National ICT Hackathon at the Design and Technology Building in Anggerek Desa, earning a $20,000 start-up grant for the young team members.
Participants of the hackathon competed in two stages. In the ‘Idea-thon’ stage, each team was required to propose ideas, suggestions and concepts on how to address the issues related to their selected theme out of nine given ones: Brunei communication hub, crowd funding on community and charity, intelligent emergency response, talent search centre, interactive/dynamic open data platform, property guide, public transportation, local tourism, and Brunei fitness.
Next was the ‘App-athon’ stage, where each team was required to develop a mobile or web application based on their ideas from the ‘Idea-thon’.
The team behind CrowdSource comprise Siti Noora’zam, the Project Manager and Developer; Ahmad Wajidi, UI Designer; Emerson Chua, Tester and Developer; Elven Ng, Developer; and Athifah Nabilah, the Database Administrator.
Along with the $20,000 start-up grant, the team also won access to the facilities at the iCentre, six months’ access to available classes offered by the Industry Business Academy, and a one-month mentorship at Microsoft Brunei.
The Crowdsource team – Siti Noora’zam, Athifah Nabilah, Emerson Chua, Elven Ng and Ahmad Wajidi
When CrowdSource was declared the winner of the open category, Siti Noora’zam took to the stage to deliver a presentation. “Our vision is to be the verified crowdfunding platform in Brunei, and then maybe after some time, the world,” she said.
Presently, the team has a focus on providing crowdfunding for charity. While discussing the team’s current challenges, Siti Noora’zam said CrowdSource hopes to offer other ways of contributing, aside from the existing process of SMS, where people donate using their phone credit.
Siti Noora’zam also noted that local donors often find it difficult to distinguish between the many types of charities out there.
“For example, something may circulate on WhatsApp about someone’s father needing money to pay for surgery. When you donate, it’s difficult to find out whether the money did get through to them, and whether the recipient did undergo surgery or not,” she said, adding that they are hoping to tackle this challenge.
Highlighting the main features of CrowdSource, she said, “We want to be a one-stop shop for Brunei charity. We also want to allow people to share it quickly through social media such as Facebook, Twitter and the rest.
“You can verify users and projects. We want to have an elaborate verification process, so that people know that these users and these projects are verified by governing entities.
“Next, we want to have positive reinforcement. We want to encourage a charitable culture in Brunei,” she said, adding that when a person donates through CrowdSource, they can also get rewards such as a ‘thank you’ note and some badges.
“And lastly, we want to make it quick and easy for you to donate. It doesn’t necessarily have to be through SMS, you can also donate through online payments.”
Siti Noora’zam told the Bulletin, “We are hoping to enable people to post all their projects, be it charities or funding. They can post through this online application.”
Regarding the option for verification, she said, “Some users aren’t verified when they post projects on WhatsApp or social media, so we’d like to tackle that as well.”
She explained that the process will employ a rating system of verification for users and submitted projects, with the highest possible rating attainable by gaining verification from a governing entity. For those who select the option, CrowdSource will help connect those with projects to a relevant ministry or agency, for verification.
Emerson Chua explained how the team came up with the idea. “We saw that crowdfunding is still new in Brunei, so we wanted to be among the first to do it.
“People purchase stuff online every day, so why not donate online to Bruneian charities as well? We did kick-start ideations, where we grouped together and gave out various ideas.”
One of those ideas was, ‘Why not do a verification process in Brunei?’ As Chua explained, “Once the entity is verified, I can just swipe my card, without any trouble. That’s the whole aim of it – to make it verified.”
When asked how it felt to win, each one of the team members said that it was unexpected. Ahmad Wajidi said, “I didn’t expect this to happen. I was speechless when they announced our group name.
“Insya Allah, we will try to enhance the system in terms of performance and security. We will try to push the application to mobile apps on Android and iOS. And we will try to expose the application to the public.”
When asked about their future goals for CrowdSource, Siti Noora’zam said, “We definitely want to make it a native app on phones. We also want to make sure that the verification process is sound.”
In terms of a payment system, the team intends to make use of Merchant Suite. They also plan to develop CrowdSource into a fully working application that is accessible as a web-based platform, as well as on smart devices.
When asked whether they plan to branch into the regional or global market, Siti Noora’zam said, “First we will go district-by-district in Brunei. Then we will go regional, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, and then we will go international.”
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