Izah Azahari
Crop Culture and Kaimana Living both were placed first in the Higher Institution and Open Categories at the Shell LiveWIRE Brunei Business Awards special ceremony at the Mulia Hotel yesterday.
Meanwhile in the Higher Institution Category, Mass Metal Trading was placed second and LactucaLeaf.BN third.
In the Open Category, Penchetak Company grabbed the second place and Perusahaan Din Al-Islam in third.
The Shell LiveWIRE Brunei Business Awards celebrates and rewards Brunei’s outstanding young entrepreneurs producing high-quality business plans and conducting impressive business operations.
A total of BND31,500 in prizes was awarded this year were distributed among first, second and third place to both Open and Higher Institution Categories.
Permanent Secretary (Community) at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Hajah Nor Ashikin binti Haji Johari, the guest of honour presented the awards to the winners.
Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd (BSP) Managing Director and Shell Country Chair in Brunei Darussalam Agnete Johnsgaard-Lewis was also present.
BSP In-Country Value Manager and Chairperson of Shell LiveWIRE Brunei Hajah Rosita binti Haji Hassan in her opening remarks highlighted the pleasant increase in the number of participants over the years, especially from the higher institutions.
“This year, there were 19 submissions received in comparison to only five in the previous year,” she said. “Shell LiveWIRE Brunei believes in the need to develop a commercial mindset amongst the youth and has run the HI-EP (Higher Institutions Entrepreneurship Programme) for the last three years,” Hajah Rosita added. Collaborations between Shell LiveWIRE Brunei with BSP, Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) and Datastream Digital Sdn Bhd (DST) in July this year to launch the Brunei Innovation Lab were also highlighted in her remarks. The ‘Business Award Focus’ has identified seven main areas – agrotechnology, energy transition, waste management, digitalisation, edutainment, social impact and smart manufacturing. The project began in May this year, with participants attending a four-day LiveWIRE Bootcamp in July, a two-day LiveWIRE Business Plan Series workshop in September and receiving business mentoring along the way.
