| Danial Norjidi |
A TEAM from Sultan Sharif Ali Secondary School (SMSSA) recently managed to finish as second runner-up in the Brunei Entrepreneurship Education Scheme (BEES) Convention Second Chapter.
Following the final pitching competition of BEES Second Chapter programme 2018, the team’s product, a specialised running shirt called ‘Vespac Ultra’, saw them named as the second runner-up in the competition, winning a trophy, certificates and BND1,000 – BND500 seed money for the school and BND500 for the students.
The Vespac Ultra is described as a new and improved version of the Vespac, which was first introduced in 2016.
It has a compartment for carrying a hydration bladder, as well as compartments for other necessities of ultra-runners, such as salt sticks, cramp spray and a mobile phone.
The students of the team behind the project are Aaron bin Maidin, Md Haziq Hazimin bin Haron, Md Wafiy Shamieszuan bin Shaharurizam and Nurhaziqah Athilah binti Redzwan.
They were guided by two teachers, namely Evelin Khadeeja Iman binti Abdullah and Sarinah binti Haji Mat Serudin.
Two members of the team spoke to the Bulletin about the achievement. Md Haziq Hazimin, shared that they got the idea for the product after speaking to ultra-runners.
Nurhaziqah Athilah said that after speaking to the runners about the problems and issues they had, they were able to come up with a solution in the form of the Vespac Ultra.
On what is next for the team following the BEES competition, she said that they plan to continue working on and selling the product.
“We will continue promoting it,” said Md Haziq Hazimin, who added that there is a future for their project.
He affirmed that taking part in BEES had been worthwhile, and that he learnt a lot from doing so.
He also shared that one of the biggest takeaways for him was that he “learnt to be confident in front of people”.
Concluding, he expressed his thanks to the team’s teachers for guiding and teaching them.
Held at the Manggis Ballroom of Hua Ho Manggis Mall on November 17, the BEES Convention Second Chapter was jointly organised by the Ministry of Education (MoE), Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd (BSP) and Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).
The BEES Second Chapter focussed on nurturing the entrepreneurial mindset of the participants by forming a three-year (2016 – 2018) strategic-based thematic programme namely ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset on Pitching’ in 2016, ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset on Innovation’ in 2017 and ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset on Sustainability’ in 2018.
The programme saw a total of 15 schools participating, 10 from government secondary schools, four from non-government secondary schools and one Arabic secondary school.