| Danial Norjidi |
THE third Startup Weekend Brunei concluded with final pitches and a prize presentation at Progresif Headquarters yesterday.
With a focus on the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the event saw pitches delivered by nine teams with their business ideas, each targetting one or more of the 17 SDGs. Teams worked over the three-day event, turning their ideas into a demo product, with some even having a test website.
Three judges featured at the event were Legislative Council member and Director of Green Brunei Yang Berhormat Khairunnisa binti Haji Ash’ari; Aimi Ramlee from Tyne Solutions Sdn Bhd; and Hadi Syafie from Muslyfe.
The judges deliberated the pitches based on feasibility, commercial value and design. Additional criteria included the business’ alignment to the SDG targets.
The top three teams received prizes sponsored by Progresif Cellular, Epipeople Consultants and EICO.
T4R (Trash for Recycle) emerged as the top team for their business idea of making an annual planner with recycled paper.
Meanwhile, second place went to Pen of Hope for their business idea of bamboo pens with vegetable seeds, followed by Tambang BN for their idea pertaining to water taxi connectivity.
This edition of Startup Weekend saw 10 mentors carrying varying backgrounds in entrepreneurship, social enterprise, marketing and user experience. Aldrich Huang from Silicon Valley was specially flown in to be a mentor and to also share about his entrepreneurial journey highlighting UX Testing, a startup he began two years ago.
The event also featured Cynthia Cheung, a regional Techstars Startup Weekend facilitator and Youth Economic Empowerment Consultant at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Bangkok office. She is an expert in the SDG targets and has given the Startup Weekend a different dynamic especially towards helping the participants understand the impact of their business ideas.
Participants were also given the chance to sit in for a pitching workshop on the second day, presented by a long-time supporter of the event, Stuart Lee from Articulation. The workshop enhanced the quality of pitches delivered by each team’s representative.
The event was made possible with the help of the strategic partner Progresif Cellular, ecosystem partner DARe (Darussalam Enterprise) and accommodation partner Wafa Hotel & Apartment. Further support was received from Sip.BN, Old Klang Curry Puffs, Taniem Mini Mart and 673 Tea Room.
It was shared that Startup Weekend Brunei is a 54-hour entrepreneur workshop with the goal to create an environment where passionate people can come together and have an experiential education on all things startup, from networking, collaborating and exposing potentials to see real results from ideas to action.