| Danial Norjidi |
LOCAL entrepreneurs and startups should think big, start small and use Brunei Darussalam as a launchpad to test and fine tune their business model and ideas to prepare to take on the regional market.
This was shared by Blue Ocean expert and CEO of UCSI Blue Ocean Strategy Consulting, Malaysia, Raj Kumar during an interview with the Bulletin on the sidelines of the Local Business Development (LBD) Workshop held in September.
Asked if he had any advice for young entrepreneurs and startups in the country, Raj highlighted the idea of thinking big, but starting small.
“You can incubate and pilot test all that you have – your concept, your business model – here, but don’t be afraid to take on Southeast Asia as a market,” he said, underlining the market opportunity of that the region’s population of 600 million offers. “I think that in itself speaks volumes.”
He noted that Brunei has a population of about 450,000. “So use Brunei as a pilot, as a test case, as a proof of concept that works. Fine-tune your business model, fine-tune your ideas, fine-tune your business, and then when you’re ready, take on the 600 million of ASEAN and I think that sounds exciting.
“We’ve got to look at it at a regional level,” he said. “So we don’t look at that country specifically, but the country is a good place to test ideas. That would be my advice. So think big, start small, grow deep and think regional, and test your ideas.”
Asked for his impression of entrepreneurship in Brunei Darussalam, he noted his experience during his three visits to the country. “What I’ve noticed, I think would divide it into the first time, second and third – this time. So the first time I saw it was very dependent on oil and gas and you could see the number of participants that came, a lot were from the oil and gas industry.
“The second one was where entrepreneurship started to develop, but even then they were a lot more senior entrepreneurs,” he continued. “What I notice this time round is that there are a lot of entrepreneurs that are young, so young entrepreneurs are emerging. This is a great sign, which means that there is a desire, or there’s a need and there’s an opportunity for younger entrepreneurs that are rising.
“It’s an exciting time where I believe that the country is already in the process of diversifying from an oil-based economy towards an entrepreneurship kind of approach,” he added.
Raj featured as a speaker at the 12th LBD Forum and also facilitated the LBD Workshop entitled ‘One-Day Blue Ocean Shift Masterclass’.