Brunei - Brunei needs to work on its branding: business sector

"WHAT is Brunei?" is one of the commonly asked questions faced by businesses when attempting to export overseas.

During the Brunei Economic Development Board's (BEDB) third SME Dialogue/Workshop 2012 earlier this week, one of the speakers, Elim Chew, said that Brunei needs to stand up, and stand up for what it represents.

Chew, founder of Singapore's accessory and street-wear retail chain 77th Street, said that for Brunei there are a lot of opportunities going out, but, there are also many that can come in.

"What is Brunei? Brand yourself. The branding element comes from the country and if you look at Korea, they came behind with full force in the film industry, and everything else followed. The whole government came behind this initiative. Today, you don't need to (promote) Korea, because people are already idolising Koreans," she explained.

The workshop was entitled "Internationalisation Challenges & Opportunities", and Chew said that there is always opportunity, but it is up to the individual, or organisation, to take the risk and take up that opportunity.

For Brunei, Chew said, the time is now, since Asia is the fastest growing economy.

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), during the half-day workshop, shared that perception was one of the biggest challenges they face when thinking of going international.

Mohd Roger Ainsworth, general manager of Megamas Training Company Sdn Bhd, said : "The perception of Brunei in international expos or exhibitions is that it does not always offers quality or good products. People are sitting in the Middle East, Korea or Thailand and they would much rather go to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur than to come to Brunei. Or they might even ask where Brunei is," he said.

He added that this was despite some businesses in Brunei being number one in the world, particularly in the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) industry.

However, Mohd Roger believed that some products may be better and even cheaper in Brunei than the neighbouring countries.

"So we need to get that message out," he said.

Speaking on behalf of his discussion group, Mohd Roger also pinpointed financing as an issue, which also ties in with marketing and marketing resources.

Although sometimes a business may go overseas to operate without much investment, there are times when an overseas contract is won and the winning bidder would need to invest to establish a branch outside of Brunei, he noted.

Mariani Hj Sabtu of the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Unit, who represented a separate group of SMEs during the workshop, echoed the same challenge.

"When a business is crossing the border, there are a lot of things that need to be prepared. You have to start looking at product development and so forth," she said.

"That implies the need for you to look at the organisation or business capability to really go abroad. There is also a lot of cost involved in exporting and so on."

Mariani added that the other challenge is that Bruneian businesses do not have the basic knowledge of regulation, culture, competition and the overall business environment of overseas markets.

"That can be a killer for anybody who wants to operate in that (international) market," she said.

GOH DE NO

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

The Brunei Times

Business & Investment Opportunities

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