70 Entrepreneurs Showcased at Incubation Festival 2017
Source from: Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Over 70 student entrepreneurs showcased their products and ideas at Universiti Brunei Darussalam's (UBD) Incubation Festival 2017 held at the Bamboo Hall and Student Centre in UBD.
Dubbed "Incufest 2017" for short, the entrepreneurship showcase by Entrepreneurship Village exhibited various businesses and ideas that were a result of a collaboration with UBD School of Business and Economics (UBDSBE), UBD's Centre for Lifelong Learning (C3L) and the University Incubation programme (U.Inc.startups). With the theme "Multidisciplinary Incubation at the University", this event supports the notion as for the first time, all entrepreneurial efforts, both pragmatic and theory-based are gathered under one main event, bringing together ideas and businesses consisting of App development, videography, logistic services, retail and fashion, food and beverages, as well as services and hospitality.
The showcase hopes to provide a platform to aid these newly-founded ventures reach out to their target markets and send the message that the students are heading towards self-sustainability before graduation through entrepreneurship.
Head of Higher Education and Community at the Entrepreneurship Village, Adna Shatriremie Hj A Abd Rahman explained the theme of the festival "Multidisciplinary Incubation at the University" where students from different backgrounds and experiences have contributed to fruitful and sustainable businesses. The Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation module, for instance, has seen faculties such as UBDSBE, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) and Academy of Brunei Studies (APB) working well with one another. And the addition of students taking the short course in Entrepreneurship from C3L sees government workers, experienced business owners and those just starting businesses into the mix.
Officiating the Incubation Festival 2017, Assistant Vice Chancellor (Global Affairs) Dr Joyce Teo Siew Yean shared how the Entrepreneurship Village's beginnings in 2014 have continued to instill the entrepreneurship mindset and along the years have produced a pool of very dedicated individuals. "Not everyone will become entrepreneurs," she said. "But it's important to have that entrepreneurship mindset." She also pointed out that she has learned much from interacting with student entrepreneurs among which were resilience and resourcefulness.
The showcase also features talks from Bru Vera, Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) and Brunei Economic Development Board, which hopes to encourage and motivate the existing entrepreneurs in pursuing their goals.
The Incubation Programme is part of the Discovery Year that students undergo through the GenNEXT programme. Guided by the Entrepreneurship Village, students learn to develop business ideas and how to become successful entrepreneurs.