WITHOUT securing contracts from Brunei's
largest private sector employer, Brunei Shell Petroleum Sdn Bhd (BSP), local
companies will not be able to expand their operations internationally due to
restrictions within the country, said one of BSP's major contractors on Thursday.
However,
BSP Managing Director Ken Marnoch said the solution had more to do with ironing
out issues in the domestic financial industry since a contract from the
country's main economic driver would be of "no value" in getting
financial support abroad.
Following
a talk that shed light on opportunities for Bruneian companies, especially SMEs
(small and medium enterprises) to penetrate overseas markets, Megamas General
Manager Mohd Roger Ainsworth raised the debate that local companies needed both
money and a BSP contract to set up an international presence.
"In
Brunei, it's critical that if you want to go international, the company would
need the solid support of the major player in Brunei," he said.
"If
we take them off, cut them off at the knees and don't give them that contract
the solid base it's so difficult to become internationalised."
Megamas
Training Company Sdn Bhd, which has been providing about 90 per cent of BSP's
Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) training for more than the past five years,
has been using the contracts it previously secured from the oil and gas giant
to develop Megamas's facilities and people.
The HSE
company recently won a national SME award, in the category of support services
to Brunei's oil and gas sector. Speaking to the paper last month, the Megamas
general manager shared the company's ambition to go international.
"We
are also looking to establish a good bond with the international market. A real
hope is that we can put a Megamas Flag into the regions," Mohd Roger told
The Brunei Times.
However,
he expressed how this hope and all the company's efforts could be in vain
without another BSP contract.
"It's
taken years and years to get to a level of performance and the people that we
have. But we're sort of at the halfway stage really," he said during the
question and answer session of Thursday's talk at Institut Teknologi Brunei.
"So
for Megamas, it's crucial that we have another contract. It's crucial that we
make that next step. Then we can go international. After that, we're
independent."
Mohd
Roger added that after stabilising their operations abroad, Megamas could then
come back to Brunei and help the other local companies.
"But
if we didn't get it, then we simply can't do it because that's the situation in
Brunei," he said.
"We
want to work together, we want to help more... and help realise the aspirations
of the nation in going international but we do need help."
Dato
Paduka Hj Hamdillah Hj Abd Wahab, the former deputy minister of Industry and
Primary Resources and currently retired, agreed that local companies were
facing difficulties in expanding abroad.
"I
sense our capacity to go beyond our border is restricted," Dato Hj
Hamdillah said.
In
answering Mohd Roger's concern, BSP's Marnoch explained that the issue was
about more than having a BSP contract in hand.
"I
think it's not just about that you can get business with us. It's about how we
can work together to actually take advantage of what is special about
Brunei," the managing director said.
In
Megamas's case, this meant capitalising on Brunei's track record in safety
standards, he explained.
"How
do we take Brunei's safety culture and safety learning, and actually be clear
that Brunei is a world leader when it comes to safety and use that to be part
of your competitive advantage and being built from a solid foundation of
Brunei's performance when it comes to safety," he said.
"And
absolutely, Brunei Shell Petroleum will work with you on that in order to help
you succeed."
However,
the situation was different for other companies specialising in other fields.
"When
it comes to everybody else, I think one of the challenges that we all face is
that in order for you to get financing in Brunei today everybody knows that if
you've got a Brunei Shell Petroleum contract, all of the banks (here) will
finance your investment," he said.
"(But)
you cannot use a Brunei Shell Petroleum contract in order to get financing in
another country."
"So
I think it's a challenge that we should be talking together as a finance
industry, as an oil industry and as an industry... about how can we use the
financial strengths that we have in Brunei in order to help you become
international, without having that Brunei Shell Petroleum contract, which is of
no value to you if are talking about business in Malaysia, Indonesia and other
places because it is not such a guarantee (abroad)."
"And
I think that's a wider challenge that we have to look at from a financial
industry point of view rather than (from) an oil and gas industry point of
view," Marnoch said.
UBAIDILLAH
MASLI
The
Brunei Times
Business & Investment Opportunities
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