Bandar Seri Begawan - The Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) together with the Asean-Japan Centre (AJC) yesterday kicked off a workshop on effective branding in an effort to strengthen the development of local businesses.

The two-day workshop at the Empire Hotel and Country Club aims to enhance local SMEs' abilities in branding and marketing, while also promoting diversity and quality of local handicrafts and food products, BEDB said in a statement.

Chief Executive Officer of BEDB, Vincent Cheong, said that through BEDB's newly-established Local Business Development Division, plans to strengthen its commitment to promoting local businesses would be put into motion.

"Through this division, BEDB will be looking into how to put in place effective programmes and tools to upgrade the skills and technologies of our SMEs to help them commercialise and eventually promote their products in domestic and overseas markets," Cheong told those in attendance yesterday, which included Haslina Taib, CEO of BAG Networks, and Satoshi Abe, a representative from the AJC.

The workshop, Cheong said, is an example of such an initiative to help the businesses understand the concept of marketing and branding. "Branding is more than just a logo, and when implemented effectively, it is essentially a vital business asset. BEDB's vision is that someday, `Made in Brunei' products will be instantly identifiable as high quality premium products," he said.

During discussions with SMEs, BEDB has identified food and handicraft as industries with enormous potential, and has reported seeing some local SMEs being approached by overseas suppliers.

"We hope to work together with our stakeholders to ensure that our local businesses grow beyond Brunei and to see our locally-made products on the shelves of supermarkets and homes around the region, and even the world.

A presentation highlighting the importance of branding and marketing to enhance the positive development of the SMEs was also delivered yesterday by Ramon Meguro, a professor at Tokyo University of Technology.

Dr Manaf Metussin, Deputy CEO of BEDB's Local Businesses Development team who was also present yesterday, said, "We see the importance of branding in our SMEs in order for them to go through the new global market challenges.

"We hope that this workshop will facilitate as an avenue for them to better understand the importance of branding concepts and help encourage the adoption of branding as a strategy for their businesses to become more competitive."

Participants of the two-day workshop comprise many local SMEs from the handicraft and food industry in particular.

They include members of the Women's Business Council and Handicrafts Centre of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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