| Fizah HAB |
VARIOUS products from the wider Halal industry in such areas as food and beverages, pharmaceutics, cosmetics and personal care, modest fashion and Halal services are being showcased at the second Brunei Halal Showcase (BruHAS) 2018 at the International Convention Centre, Berakas.
The five-day trade show, themed ‘Developing the Halalan Thayyiban Industry Towards Achieving the 2035 National Vision’, is participated by over 100 local MSMEs and international companies.
One such body is BIBD SEED, an initiative set up by BIBD to help single mothers grow their businesses.
Siti Hamdiah binti Haji Tuah, founder of Umi Ka CT, a product of the BIBD SEED initiative, shared with the Sunday Bulletin her delight at having the chance to participate in BruHAS 2018.
“Our first involvement in a similar event was at the recent Sabah International Food and Beverage Fair where, Alhamdulillah, we managed to draw positive responses from both local and foreign customers to our locally made and packaged rempah rendang, serunding, acar and rojak,” she said. “It’s been the same case with this BruHAS event.
“We have seen positive response from locals who have been impressed with our products, including the previously mentioned local condiments.”
Commenting on BIBD SEED, Muhammad Zanful Hanafi bin Haji Abdul Rahim, project manager for the initiative, explained that the initiative was incepted to provide support to single mothers in promoting and expanding their businesses.
The bank does this by helping the mothers promote their Halal-certified products in both local and foreign markets, as well as assisting them in building business networks.
“BIBD SEED helps businesses by raising public awareness on their products, and assisting single mother entrepreneurs in growing their businesses,” he said.
Another Halal brand being showcased at the expo is bruneihalalfoods. Several of the brand’s halal-certified products are on display, including its Mama’s Recipe Blueshrimp Crackers, its multi-flavoured CORDIA cordials, purified oxygenated water AYER, as well as a new canned food line.
This is the second time the marque, the flagship brand of state-owned Ghanim International, is taking part in the expo.
Speaking to the Sunday Bulletin, bruneihalalfoods Sales Account Officer Faizal Rosli shared that the brand has been garnering positive responses from the public.
“Our locally made products have been receiving positive responses from both local and foreign customers. One example is our Mama’s Recipe Blueshrimp Crackers – our recently launched Chilli and Chinese Celery flavours have been a hit among customers.
“We are even getting reports of tourists from China buying the Mama’s Recipe Blueshrimp Crackers in bulk to be brought back to their countries as souvenirs,” he said.
“Our CORDI cordial on the other hand is unique from other cordials available on the market, we offer two types of cordials: a 50 per cent less sugar and a zero per cent sugar version.
“Both of these are suitable for diabetics, people with high blood pressure, as well as the health-conscious.
“We are also introducing new 350ml and the 1.5L bottles to add to our existing 600ml bottle for our purified oxygenated water AYER line,” added Faizal.
“Our latest product, the canned food line, is available in three flavours: Beef Stew, Beef Black Pepper and Corned Beef.
“These are crowd favourites – our customers especially enjoy the Beef Stew flavour. We are looking to add new dishes to the line in the near future.”
MSME Mee Kilang Enterprise meanwhile, is looking to use BruHAS 2018 as a stepping stone to promote its products, notably various locally produced noodles.
Company Manager Sabirin Othman shared that despite seeing the expo as being a competition between the other vendors, the local entrepreneurs are willing to work together to share opinions and business experience, build networks, and promote its products on the local market.
“We started a year ago and are looking to promote our locally made products. We have engaged several methods to improve our products, such as refining our recipes, taking steps to ensure the quality of our products, as well as bringing in consultants to monitor our machineries to ensure quality and hygiene,” he said.
“We are also actively promoting our products by distributing them to the local supermarkets and minimarts such as Hua Ho, SKH and Leong Wui, to name but a few. We are also providing our products as souvenirs for traditional occasions such as weddings and Tahlil ceremony.
“We have notably distributed our products to some mosques during Ramadhan as part of our initiatives to reach out to the community through charities.”
“Alhamdulillah through our participation in this event, we’ve managed to draw a good response from visitors who have tried out our products at our booth.
“This was made possible with the assistance of Zuk’s Noodle Station, who helped with the cooking of our products [to be served to visitors as samples],” he added.
“It’s quite interesting as we have also managed to engage with fellow entrepreneurs, build new connections, and share opinions and knowledge with one another.”
The expo also featured a few companies offering special ‘Halalan Thayyiban’ Halal consultation services. The label is given to products or services which are judged to have exceeded standard technical Halal requirements and have gone above and beyond in terms of “wholesomeness and quality”.
Among these are Avertu Management Services Sdn Bhd and WGM’s Management & Consultancy Services.
Both firms are offering services to assist new businesses in Halal applications, guidelines, standards and business analysis.
The Halal expo, which is open from 9am to 9pm, comes to a close today.