SME Brunei

Online Tool to turn a picture text to editable text

bobbyofbrunei — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:43:39 +0000

I recently needed to edit a file. I could only find the picture format. There was a lot of text to by retyped.. So I was a bit exasperated thinking of the task at hand. Then I realize, computers are smart, there are tools that can do this. But I didn’t want the hassle of downloading and installing an app. So I searched for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) apps online. and I found one and used it. It saved me a lot of effort and time.

http://www.onlineocr.net/default.aspx

The Essence of Sales

bobbyofbrunei — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:36:32 +0000

There is a workshop on Sales in the fasting month. The following are the details.

Workshop Title: The Essence of Sales

Date: 14th August 2011
Time: 8:30am – 5:00pm
Place: LiveWIRE Centre, Development Unit, No 42, 1st Floor, BT-Hj Uthman Complex Spg 13, Jalan Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kg Jaya Setia, Mukim Berakas A Brunei Darussalam BB 2513.

Facebook invite: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198431946880567

This workshop doesn’t focus on sales strategy or techniques, instead focuses on the sales persons as an individual to see their relationship with their selling, to identify the blocks, and to find their reason to achieve sales. The facilitator is a Bruneian who has spent the last few several years overseas doing business and Sales. She was interviewed by Brunei Times about the course recently. http://www.bt.com.bn/business-national/2011/08/02/natural-way-sell. The facilitator is only back in Brunei for the fasting month, which then she will return to australia.

The one day course is priced at $415 per person, with an early bird price of rate of $347 per person.

In my opinion. Most Bruneians would find the the cost too pricy, But workshops like these held in singapore, malaysia, US, UK or australia would cost thousands. People who do sales like car dealers, insurance agents, real estate agents, direct sales and MLM distributors will definitely benefit from this course. The sales techniques and strategies are there, they are available from books, internet or some workshops. But for most sales people, it is more of an internal resistance in doing the sale. That is what this workshop helps the salesperson deal with.

Prices of Cars in Brunei Showrooms

bobbyofbrunei — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:12:21 +0000

I’ve noticed that in car show rooms, there’s often a letter on the dashboard of the cars displayed about the price. I had only vaguely notice that it was “approved” by the Department of Economic Planning and Development (Jabatan Perancangan dan Kemajuan Ekonomi). I had recently found a list of the approved cars on their website.

It’s cool, now I don’t have to go from dealer to dealer finding the price of 1st hand cars. I’ll go check the price online, and see what the dealer has to offer. But then, I’m not in the market to buy cars yet. are you?

This is the link to the website – http://www.depd.gov.bn/projects/control/car/Car%20Price%20Q%202010.html

Brunei’s Marriage Statistics

bobbyofbrunei — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:02:23 +0000

I was reading some business plans at livewire, and found one about wedding planner, they had reference an interesting statistics on Muslim Marriage in Brunei. The statistic is available online at http://www.mms.gov.bn/malay/images/stories/pdf/PPPR/stat_pppr_2001_2010.pdf
below is a copy of it on this website.
stat_pppr_2001_2010 – Marriage by year vs District
Now looking at the statistic, there is an annual average of 2000 marriages per year, where about 75% of them occur in the Brunei-Muara District.
I found this statistic interesting, because it reflects on the Wedding Industry.
That means that for an annual of 2000 weddings per year,
there are about 2000/50=40 weddings per week.
or about 2000/12=160 per month
So for wedding related businesses this seems to be a small market.
Business such as photographers, caterers, Pelamin providers, etc can only do at maximum 1 per week or 4 times a month. that means there’s only market for 40 wedding service providers in Brunei. 80 if they all work at 50% capacity (or only twice a month), or 160 if they only do once a month.

I haven’t done a research on the actual number of the wedding service providers, but it does seem that Brunei has more supplier than demand in the wedding industry. This is probably why good wedding photographers charge high. Amateur photographers who charge less will push themselves out of the market as they may not be able to sustain themselves. Of course this is assuming that the photographers only cater to the local market and do not spread over outside of Brunei.

Brunei’s e-government portal

bobbyofbrunei — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:44:50 +0000

Checkout the governments e-government portal at www.gov.bn
The website focuses on 3 types of visitors
* Locals
* Businesses
* Tourists
It has been fun for me exploring what aspects of business the government has provided facilities for. Previously, I usually googled in order to search for a government website. this portal is convenient.
Just to also share, the websites of interest for business:
-www.agc.gov.bn – the attorney general chambers website, check out online acts/regulations on business names registration, miscellaneous license, copyrights, trademarks, and other business related laws.
-
-www.bruneimipr.gov.bn – Ministry and Industry and Primary Resources, a lot of business may go through here e.g. agriculture, fishery and tourism.
-http://www.pelitabrunei.gov.bn/iiklan.htm – web page that contains most government tenders, although most government departments and ministries have their own tender web pages.

Writing a Business Plan

bobbyofbrunei — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 03:52:59 +0000

I have been sharing what I know about writing a business plan in LiveWIRE’s Business Plan Series.
Below are the slides I use.

View this document on Scribd

Some people are comfortable in just reading, some people are comfortable with other people guiding them, if you are the latter, come join the Business Plan Series. The following is a link to the fb invite of the next session.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115163805241172

LiveWIRE Brunei Business Awards 2010/2011 Briefing

bobbyofbrunei — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 03:45:35 +0000

A Briefing on the Rules and Regulations of the LiveWIRE Brunei Business Awards Competition.
* The Categories
* The Prizes
* The General Rules and Guidelines
* a Brief summary of writing a business plan

The following is the link to the FB invite

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=248633415152916

A course on being a distributor for Chinese Products

bobbyofbrunei — Mon, 16 May 2011 05:36:53 +0000

A lot of the products we buy nowadays are mostly made in china, from clothing, to computers, and now even cars. I found it interesting that someone created a course on how to be a a distributor of chinese products. the course is entitled “Program Lawatan Sambil Memborong ke China” from the website http://kursusmemborongdichina.blogspot.com/which involves a trip to china and meeting suppliers.

I guess if anyone interested to become a distributor should join the course. Get more information by going to the link mentioned above.

(Note: I am not being paid for directing traffic to this site)

Blood Donation at LiveWIRE

bobbyofbrunei — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:02:22 +0000

LiveWIRE Held a Blood Donation Drive last Tuesday on the 14th of December 2010. There were a few people who donated blood, there were some who donated their blood for the first time. Most of the Donor came from nearby commercial units such as elite computers, infomars, KOPRI, Axtivo and don’t forget LiveWIRE staff themselves. I’d like to take the time to explain the steps for those who have never donated blood before.

Registration. You may be filling more than one form, one is for the organizer keeping attendance.
And the other is the blood donation form from the hospital. The form from the hospital will be asking a lot of questions about your health. This form has since been updated to a 4 page booklet. previously it was just one sheet. Among the important questions are: are you sick, taking medication, menstruating or pregnant (for women you can’t donate during this time), or have currently having any symptoms of being sick.
Health Check. The health officer will look over your form and ask you questions on any suspecting issues. You have to be qualified to donate blood. You can think this as a free medical checkup among the tests are:
Weight (you have to be at least 50 kg to donate),
Blood Haemoglobin level (you have to have enough blood),
Blood Pressure (you need to have adequate pressure, or else you might faint).
If you pass, you are handed the bag for the blood. You may also get goody bags or at least directed to the refreshments. Sometimes both
Blood Donation Time! You will be seated in a Relax chair, the health officer will ask you to hold a piece of wood while he ties your upper arm up. they will then inject you with something to dull the pain as well as something (I guess) to stop blood clotting. This part is actually the only and most painful part.
The health officer will then start to put a big needle (it seems big, maybe its the fear :p but you won’t feel a thing! ) into your arm and your blood will now flow into the bag. You may grip the wooden piece to stimulate the blood flow. (I’m not sure about this one, but it seems to work)
After you have finish, that one bag will be filled up, but it may overflow into a secondary bag, but no fears, if you made it to this step, then you have nothing to worry about. The health officer will take out the big needle and bandage your arm. You may also help yourself to the refreshments again.

I would recommend eating mushrooms and beef in the following days to build up your iron. Personally, this is one of the perks of donating, you can use it as an excuse to eat more! :p (but I have to watch what I’m eating now, I’m not as young as I use to be )

Finally, I’d like to invite everyone to take the time to donate blood. Not only is it beneficial for the recipient, but it can also be beneficial for the Donor. Research has shown that it may reduce risks of Iron overload, Heart Disease Risk, and Cancer Risks. The blood donated by one person can benefit upto 3 people. The fear that stops you from donating is only temporary, but the benefits last longer. Blood Donations can also be held at any other time at the hospitals blood donation centre.

Secrets of Successful Project Management

bobbyofbrunei — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:09:24 +0000

Did some projects recently, this article at ST Training Solutions › Articles › Secrets of Successful Project Management, would have been helpful. The steps are here simplified:

Know what are the objectives of the project. Know/assign those who are responsible for the project.
Plan activities to reach those objectives and account for obstacles.
Act on the Plan, change the plan only if necessary and if it is still in line with the objectives.

Currently, I’m trying to understand using the Work Breakdown Structure within Project Management Software. The one’s I’m looking into are MS Project (propriety), and open source programs like OpenProj and Open Workbench and GanttProject. OpenProj has been said to be compatible with MS Project. So I’m looking into that. Anyone has any suggestions?

The Case Against Project Management Software (brighthub.com)
About GanttProject – Free Online Project Management Software (brighthub.com)