AITI Awards Grants To Local Companies

 

The AITI (Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam) yesterday awarded grants to three local ICT companies - MARS Enterprise, Crescent Sdn Bhd and John Harith Technology. To mark this important milestone, a contract signing ceremony between Awg Hj Yahkup bin Hj Menudin, the CEO of AITI, and the directors of the three companies, was held at the Seri Kerna Hall, AITI office in Kg Anggerek Desa.

The event was witnessed by the guest of honour, Dato Paduka Hj Awg Alaihuddin bin Pehin Orang Kaya Digadong Seri Lela Dato Seri Utama Hj Awg Mohammad Taha, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Chairman of AITI, and representatives of various stakeholders in the ICT industry.

The directors of the three companies lauded AITI's generosity and expressed their optimism that the grants would go a long way in helping them develop their products.

MARS Enterprise was awarded a grant of $175,000 for its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution - a financial system that can be integrated with fully-customised functions including stock inventory, existing operating solutions, fixed assets, human resource and payroll to cater across the different sectors of the industry.

Thanks to its ERP Solution, MARS Enterprise was the first Bruneian company to achieve the Special Mentioned Recognition Award for the logistic category during the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) 2008 in Indonesia.

Mr Foo Boon Seng, the Managing Director of MARS Enterprise, is confident that the company will have enough manpower to put the software on the market thanks to the grant.

Crescent Sdn Bhd, meanwhile, was awarded a grant of $151,600 for its "Premier Global End- To-End Online Program For Master Of Islamic Banking & Finance". Hjh Salma Latiff, the Managing Director of Crescent Sdn Bhd, is hopeful that the company will be ready to launch its online diploma and professional courses sometime next year.

As for John Harith Technology Sdn Bhd, the company was awarded a grant of $75,000 for its Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Tagging & Traceability Solution. This product, which is specifically for the food industry, will help users ensure that manufactured food maintains its food safety requirements.

John Lim Wan Kee, the Managing Director of John Harith Technology Sdn Bhd, said the grant will help finance the company's research and development (R&D).
 

The AITI Grant Scheme was launched in July 2010 to encourage R&D activities and capabilities in producing. local innovative Brunei-made products with commercial potential by the local ICT businesses through government funding.

This initiative is in line with one of AITI's functions and duties to encourage, promote, facilitate and provide assistance for the development and expansion of the ICT industry in the Sultanate.

It is hoped that the scheme would also provide opportunities for Brunei to produce more talents on local ICT content and applications.

The AITI Grant Scheme has four types of schemes that imitate the stages of ICT product or solution development - (1) Product Development Grant (developing prototypes, etc); (2) Product Enhancement Grant (improving and upgrading design, etc); (3) Product Ownership Grant (obtaining certification and recognition); and, (4) Product Packaging & Marketing Grant (improving packaging, design and labelling). Application forms for the next AITI Grant Scheme can be submitted between December 30, 2010, and January 31, 2011. For more information, visit www.aiti.gov.bn. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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AITI Grant Winners Set to Take Game to Next Stage

Ministry of Communications Permanent Secretary Dato Paduka Hj Alaihuddin POKDGSLDSU Hj Mohammad Taha (L) presenting a mock cheque amounting to $151,600 to Hjh Salma Latiff (R), CEO of Crescent Sdn Bhd, during AITI's grant scheme awarding ceremony held at AITI, Berakas. Picture: BT/Saifulizam

 

Debbie Too
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Saturday, November 27, 2010

THANKS to grants from the Authority for Information Technology Industry (AITI), three iCentre incubatees plan to take their businesses to the next level in pursuit of growth.

"What I believe is that there is another 'oilfield' in Brunei, and that is in the software development field," said Foo Boon Seng, managing director of Mars Enterprise Sdn Bhd. Mars was awarded with a $175,000 grant to help allow Foo to build a team of local talent and train them to support his software solutions development. "All this while I have been a 'one-man-show' and it is difficult that is why this grant really means a lot to me," he said.

Foo's IT solutions are concentrated on "Enterprise Resource Planning", principally an integration of business management practices and modern technology. "I am able to get international contracts and win the Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance Award (against) other participants which all have a large staff number," said Foo, who also felt comfortable in saying that even as a one-man show, he dominated this category in Brunei.

Foo said that one of his dilemmas in expanding his company was that it was expensive to hire well-trained IT personnel to help support him, and he did not have the funds to hire local talent and train them. "Even though I am able to win the contracts from overseas, a lot of my competitors have said that I am just a one-man team and that my service is poor, and they tell the clients that I do not have a proper team," he said.

He added that now with this grant in hand, he now has the capital to hire local staff and train his personnel. "I now have 10 staff members, and I will continue to improve and compete in a fair way. This means a lot to me because it shows that the country supports me and now we can really contribute to Brunei," he said.

John Lim, general manager of John Harith Computer, bagged $75,000 from AITI, which the company will use to advance its research and development "to the next level". He explained that the next phase would require a lot of consultancy services which would be in line with the international standards for his IT solution.

Lim said that his future programme will be concentrated on "food traceability", whereby the food and beverage industry will be able to use the software to find the sources of the ingredients used in a product. "It will also allow people to check whether the product is halal or not, but that is not the entire focus of the solution."

He added that if he wasn't awarded this grant, he would not be able to speed up his operations on food traceability and it may take longer to accomplish. Asked why he decided to concentrate on a solution for the food and beverage industry, Lim said that he had noticed that the Brunei Government has been "spending quite a lot of money on food promotion", which is why he felt that a local solution should go hand-in-hand.

"We might need to be selective about what we want to do with this and we cannot do everything all at once, so we might have to drop our venture into food traceability," said Lim.

The final recipient for the AITI grant was Hjh Salma Latiff, managing director of Crescent Sdn Bhd, set up to provide a solution to help people get an Islamic Finance Master's Degree on-line. "With this grant, we are able to use state-of-the-art technology to make our platform more sophisticated and speed up our process of releasing our online platform."

She added that her focus is to target Islamic Finance education on a global scale, not just Brunei. "If we are successful at doing this then Brunei will be the first on-line solutions provider to allow people to get their Master's Degree," she said. The platform is scheduled to be launched in April 2011, and some of the markets that Crescent Sdn Bhd will be targeting include the United States, Canada, Japan and Korea.

"Islamic finance is now starting to emerge in Japan and Korea, and by mid next year, I hope to have at least a presence there," Hjh Salma said. She added Crescent Sdn Bhd is in the process of signing a contract with an international university and is hoping to also partner with Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

The AITI Grant Scheme has four categories that look to provide a timely boost at different stages of ICT product or solution development, namely: the Product Development Grant for developing prototypes or concept testing, the Produce Enhancement Grant, for improving and upgrading designs or processes, the Product Ownership Grant, for obtaining certification and recognition, and the Product Packaging and Marketing Grant, for the improvement of existing packaging, design or labelling. The Brunei Times

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AITI Awards $400,000 in Grants to Three ICT Firms in Brunei

Permanent Secretary of Communication Dato Paduka Hj Alaihuddin POKDGSLDSU Hj Mohammad Taha (C), witnessing the signing ceremony of the successful applicants of AITI grant scheme for local ICT industry development held at AITI, Berakas. Signing of behalf of AITI are Haji Yahkup Haji Menudin (2nd L) and Julianah Haji Ali Ahmad (L). Signing on behalf of Crescent Sdn Bhd are Hajah Salma Bee Haji Abd Latiff (2nd L) and Mohd Donovan Dolamit (R). Picture:BT/Saifulizam

Izam Said Ya'akub
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Saturday, November 27, 2010

THREE Bruneian ICT companies were awarded grants totalling over $400,000 by the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) yesterday, becoming the first successful applicants under AITI's grant scheme.

Mars Enterprise, Crescent Sdn Bhd and John Harith Technology Sdn Bhd were the inaugural recipients of grants that fall under the scheme, which is aimed at providing a boost to the country's up-and-coming ICT talents.

The Chief Executive of AITI, Haji Yahkup Hj Menudin, said in a prepared statement that the successful grant applicants were evaluated on four main criteria: the proposals' technology merits, commercial potential, financial resources as well as the project plan and its capacity to deliver.

"Further evaluation was also emphasised on the 'Brunei-Made' elements of the proposed products," said the Chief Executive. He further added that grant applicants with the AITI Accredited Business Status were given preference during the evaluation process.

A signing ceremony was held yesterday at the Seri Kerna Hall, AITI Office in Kg Anggrek Desa. On hand to witness the contract signing between the AITI and grant recipients was Dato Paduka Haji Awang Alaihuddin bin Pehin Orang Kaya DiGadong Seri Lela Dato Seri Utama Haji Awang Mohammad Taha, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications.

Of the three recipients, Mars Enterprise was granted $175,000 for its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution project, a financial system that can be integrated with fully customised functions including stock inventory, existing operation solutions, fixed assets, human resource and payroll to cater to a variety of needs across different sectors of the industry. Earlier, the company was feted the Special Mentioned Recognition Award in the logistics category during the Asia Pacific ICT Awards in 2008, held in Indonesia, the first company from Brunei to do so.

Meanwhile, Crescent Sdn Bhd was awarded $151,600 for its 'Premier Global End-to-End Online Program for Master of Islamic Banking and Finance', which allows the end-user to sit in a Master of Islamic Banking and Finance (MIBF) programme online. The solution was also recognised by the ThinkBig Business Plan Competition held earlier this year, where the company won third place in the ICT business plan category.

John Harith Technology Sdn Bhd, which has a radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging & tracing product, was the third grant recipient. Awarded $75,000, the company's solution addresses capabilities of identification, tracking, recall and authenticity.

AITI is encouraging more participants to apply for the next round of grants under its scheme. A spokesperson from AITI yesterday stated that the AITI Grant Scheme will be accepting applications from interested businesses in Brunei Darussalam from December 30, 2010 to January 31, 2011.

The AITI Grant Scheme has four categories that look to provide a timely boost at different stages of ICT product or solution development, namely: the Product Development Grant for developing prototypes or concept testing, the Produce Enhancement Grant, for improving and upgrading designs or processes, the Product Ownership Grant, for obtaining certification and recognition, and the Product Packaging and Marketing Grant, for the improvement of existing packaging, design or labelling.

The grant amount varies, with a maximum of $250,000 depending on the grant applied. Applicants can apply for more than one type of grant for the same IT product or solution. The Brunei Times

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AITI Grant Scheme: Brunei ICT Firms Invited to Apply

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Bruneian information communications technology (ICT) companies have been invited to apply for the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam's (AiTi) grant scheme.

The grant scheme that was introduced to encourage, promote, facilitate and provide financial assistance for the development and expansion of the ICT industry in Brunei, AiTi Chief Executive Hj Yahkop Hj Menudin was quoted as saying in a statement issued yesterday.

He said through the scheme, Brunei would be able to start producing more local talent in ICT content and applications. Four types of grants are offered under the scheme that falls in different stages of ICT products or solutions.

The first is the Product Development Grant, which entails the development prototypes or concept testing, while the Product Enhancement Grant is for improving and upgrading designs or processes. To obtain certification and recognition, the grant type is known as the Product Ownership Grant and the Product Packaging Grant is for the improvement of existing packaging, design or labelling.

Each applicant can apply for more than one type of grant for the same IT product or solution and the amount granted varies with a minimum of $100,000, depending on the type of grant applied. Application forms and guidelines for this scheme are available at the AITI website (www.aiti.gov.bn/scheme). An industry briefing will be organised on July 14, 2010 to address any inquiries on the grant scheme.

Interested ICT companies that would like to attend the industry briefing can email their complete contact details to itidg@aiti.gov.bn or call the IT Industry Development Group at 2323232. The deadline to submit the application forms is 4pm on Friday, August 6, 2010. Brunei Times.

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