| Danial Norjidi |
THE second session of the Youth Entrepreneurship Plenary 2018 in conjunction with the National Youth Day celebration took place on Wednesday at the International Convention Centre (ICC).
The session featured a panel of four young entrepreneurs; Founder of Avantist & DART Logistics Keeran Janin; Managing Director of CoveredbyAnissa Nurul Hidayah binti Haji Masir; Founder & CEO, Teachmeguru Awangku Abdul Azim bin Pengiran Yusof; and Quratul Ain Bandial.
During the session, the panel, moderated by Youth Worker at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Awangku Kamal Gadafi bin Pengiran Suhaimi saw the panel speak on the topic, ‘Young in Business: Why being a young entrepreneur is awesome’, sharing their entrepreneurial stories.
One question posed to the panel pertained to how to sustain a business. Responding to this, Nurul Hidayah said, “Starting a business is quite easy, especially now with all the technology and stuff. But in terms of sustaining, I would say, first of all, it’s to generally have a purpose. So you go back to why you started the business.”
She shared the example of how, with her own business, when it comes to designing their clothing the focus on their purpose, which is to raise awareness in terms of the proper use of covered wear.
“So when it comes to sustaining, first is to have the purpose. Second is to actually have someone or a group of people who support what you do,” she continued.
Sharing another example from CoveredbyAnissa, she said, “What I do is actually find a person who will be able to lead a certain department, instead of myself. So instead of being a one-woman show, I try to find these individuals and try to groom them.” One question raised was on ‘copycats’ in business. One of the panellists to address this question was Awangku Abdul Azim, who said, “If someone is copying you, it means you are good at what you’re doing. It’s good to have fresh blood in the market. It makes us challenge ourselves and make our businesses different.”
He added that for his business, they make a product that is unique compared to other tuition schools.
Meanwhile, responding to a question about motivation, Quratul Ain said, “I think the hallmark of a good entrepreneur is that you are never satisfied with the result. You want to keep pushing. So if you achieve one goal, you have to set another goal for yourself. There’s no room for complacency.”
Keeran also shared, “If you’re competitive and you have a mission, if your business is something that is more than just to make money, it’s something that you believe in, you’re going to want to see it grow.”
Addressing a question about raising money for investment, he said, “When people invest in you, especially if you’re a young entrepreneur, especially if your company is small, they’re not really investing in your business. They’re investing in you as a person.
“And a lot of times you want to find an investor who says, ‘I like you, I want to see you do well. It might not be today, and it might not be next year, but I want to see you do well and I want to give you your shot, and if you mess up, that’s okay. But I’m not going to be breathing down your throat for profit straight away’. And there are a lot of people like that in Brunei. You’ve just got to identify them and then speak to them in that way; that ‘this is my dream and this is what I want to do’.”
In response to another question, Keeran also highlighted the importance of the story behind a business. “When you’re in any business at all, people are interested in the story. Never forget what you represent. Always stick to your core principles.”
Among the attendees at the session were Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Awang Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin and Deputy Minister of Energy, Manpower and Industry Dato Seri Paduka Awang Haji Matsatejo bin Sokiaw.