| Danial Norjidi |
FIVE entrepreneurs who recently received start-up funds under the LiveWIRE Business Awards Start-Up Funding Scheme were upbeat and thankful after the contract signing ceremony on July 25.
The scheme is a brand new initiative by Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd (BSP) through LiveWIRE Brunei.
The grant recipients are the top winners of the LiveWIRE Brunei Business Awards in Category ‘A’ (Business Plan) – LiveWIRE Programme Participants and Category ‘B’ (Enterprise) – LiveWIRE Business Start-Up (six months to three years in business).
The winners are awarded for the feasibility and future potential of the business for Category ‘A’, and sustainability, good governance and growth potential for Category ‘B’.
To further manage these grants, LiveWIRE Brunei is collaborating with the appointed bank, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), which will provide assistance with depositing the grant and monitoring the recipients’ account.
Hazeeyah Agro Farm, a business from Temburong that prepares quality salted eggs, received a start-up grant of BND50,000. Speaking on receiving the grant, Nur Haziyah binti Abdul Rahman said, “I’m so happy, and I hope I can expand more after this.” She explained that the plan is to expand the business further with a new farm in Temburong.
Nur Haziyah also highlighted that the lessons learnt from the LiveWIRE Brunei programme had been very useful to her, highlighting that she gained a lot of knowledge from the courses.
“I just want to thank LiveWIRE and the agencies that have been helping me before, the Brunei Islamic Religious Council (MUIB), Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and BIBD,” she added.
Another recipient was Al-Huffaz Management, a platform for Islamic religious-based services, which received a startup-grant of BND20,000. The company’s founder and CEO Haji Mohammad Loqman Al-Hakim bin Haji Hamdan of Al-Huffaz Management said, “It is wonderful. I feel blessed.”
“With this money, we’re going to use it very carefully, and with all the mentors’ help and guidance, we hope we can achieve our goals in 2022, which is achieving 600 teachers in 2022,” he said. “I hope we can grow Al-Huffaz more and employ more Bruneians.”
On their experience with LiveWIRE Brunei, he said, “All the training facilities given to us are free of charge, and it was wonderful. All the knowledge that was given to us was very useful to use in our business.”
“I want to thank all my educators and my team for their hard work and the full support from our families. Let us create a more Al-Quran literate generation in the future. Thank you to LiveWIRE Brunei,” he added.
Another grant recipient was Roy’s Car Wash, which received BND10,000. Speaking on receiving the grant, Dayangku Nur Hayatul Muta-Wakillah binti Pengiran Raithullah said, “It was really unexpected. This really helps me and my dad to expand our business and to fix any fixer uppers.”
She highlighted that Roy’s Car Wash offers car wash services in a professional way with a high standard and trained workers.
Speaking on her experience with LiveWIRE Brunei, she said, “With that training I’ve learnt a lot to develop my skills.” She thanked LiveWIRE, BSP and BIBD “for giving me this opportunity. It’s a huge opportunity and it was really unexpected”.
Takeaway food shop Pondok Selera Kitani received a start-up grant of BND30,000. Speaking on being awarded the grant, Addie Fadlie bin Samsudin said that he felt motivated.
Speaking on the business, he said, “Mostly in Brunei, at midday there are traffic jams, and time is limited. When people think of fast food, they usually imagine fries, burgers and western food. So we emphasise on local cuisine, but fast. It’s grab and go.”
On what is next, he said, “We are going to renovate the central kitchen, and then buy utensils and appliances so that we can increase production of the food, as well as renovate the shop.”
He highlighted that the training with LiveWIRE Brunei was very useful. “We learnt how to calculate the cost of goods sold (COGS) and how to manage our money properly. Even people skills.”
He thanked LiveWIRE Brunei as well as DARe (Darussalam Enterprise), sharing that he previously joined one of DARe’s programmes.
Another recipient was bicycle rental business Santaiaje Niaga Enterprise, which was awarded a grant of BND45,000. Co-founders Abdul Manan bin Haji Abdul Hamid and Siti Nooriah binti Haji Muhammad Bokhari were happy to have received the grant, and said it was unexpected.
“What we learnt from LiveWIRE Brunei is very useful for people of all ages. It is not only to do with business, but also our inner selves, such as where we want to go, our targets in life and for our business.”
They shared that they plan to use the grant to add to the bicycles they currently have.
“Our aim is to encourage the public to do outdoor activities with families in healthy locations.”
They expressed their thanks to LiveWIRE Brunei, who they said helped enhance their company’s service.
As was explained during welcoming remarks at the LiveWIRE Business Awards Start-Up Funding Scheme ceremony, the interest free grant ranges from as low as BND5,000 to a maximum of BND50,000, payable within 36 months with flexible terms of payment.
These funds are to boost and grow the businesses to the next possible level based on the current performance that the entrepreneurs have demonstrated.