Muhammad Riyanulaiman bin Mohammad Yazid, who received the Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) Most Inspiring Male Youth Sustainability Leader Award at the 2nd Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Youth Dialogue, believes that the platform has allowed the youth to better understand the importance of responsible consumption and production of goods and services.
Muhammad Riyanulaiman, who also chairs the team Vil-Laju! Brunei that won the Best Overall BIBD Youth Sustainability Project, shared, “We have gained considerable experience from organising and facilitating a community project. The experience was an eye-opener, from planning the logistics to organising workshops. Although challenging, our team managed to turn the project into reality, with the support from all the stakeholders and collaborators.”
The Vil-Laju! Brunei project was already among the outstanding teams under the theme ‘Jobs’ in the previous SDG Youth Dialogue. But the grant money from BIBD had allowed the team to “facilitate capacity-building workshops for both entrepreneurs as well as those with the aspiration by exposing them to basics in digital literacy, financial literacy, marketing and public relations”.
He added, “I didn’t think we would win because other three teams had such amazing projects. All I can say is Alhamdulillah. We didn’t only reach our goals with this project, we exceeded them! So the award serves as recognition of our hard work.”
On the significance of the project, he said, “The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) motto of leaving no one behind has struck a chord in me. Capacity-building and upskilling workshops were commonly held but often only in urban areas, especially in the Brunei-Muara District. It got me thinking, ‘How about those living in rural areas?’ Our project is really about bringing these workshops to them.
“We make Tutong the flagship district because rural residents there were often overlooked by the public. The fact that Tutong has a lot to offer in terms of culture, community and innovation, we knew we had to tap into its potential by empowering the people with entrepreneurial skills.”
The next step for Vil-Laju! Brunei, Muhammad Riyanulaiman said, is to reach out to aspiring entrepreneurs in rural Belait and Temburong districts. – James Kon
