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6DiscoverNEWSE@C Ignites Entrepreneurship TalentsOn 10 April 2013, the Entrepreneurship At Campus(EAC) Programme and Centre was officiallylaunched at the Student Affairs Building in UBD bythe Guest of Honour, Yang Berhormat Pehin OrangKaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr.) Hj Awang AbuBakar Hj Apong, the Minister of Education. Theevent was also attended by various governmentofficials from the Ministry of Education, Ministry ofFinance, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources,UBD as well as representatives from the BruneiEconomic Development Board (BEDB), iCentreand various international schools and highereducation institutes in the country.EAC is a collaborative initiative between BEDB andUBD with the support of iCentre. It aims to inculcatean entrepreneurial culture amongst the younggeneration by providing assistance financially,environmentally, culturally as well as in termsof logistics support and knowledge transfer toenable and enhance an effective developmentof entrepreneurial activities into phases ofcommercialisation and startups. The launch ofEAC marked a significant phase towards its aim inengaging more youths in entrepeneurial activitiesregardless of the institutions they are attached to –these talents and ideas are welcomed. Currently,the 12 incubatees at EAC comprise youthscurrently studying at UBD, Brunei DarussalamInstitute of Technology, Maktab Duli PMAMB andeven from private colleges - one incubatee isfrom Laksamana College. These are housed at thefocal office of EAC, which is located in UBD, andtrainings are mostly conducted at iCentre. Theevent also saw an award being presented to MissWinnie Sia Wee Nie, a student from the Faculty ofBusiness Economics and Policy Studies (UBD) asthe winner for the logo design competition for theE@C logo.In his speech, Yang Berhormat Pehin stressedthe importance of having the right attitudes andvalues - to have determination, passion and a‘not giving up’ attitude is crucial to becomingan entrepreneur where success does not comeby easily and failure is an inevitable bump inthe process. The launching of EAC is seen asan important catalyst in creating a conducivesupport system and nurturing talents and ideas toflourish and prosper.Dr Awang Hj Abdul Manaf Hj Metussin, the DeputyChief Executive Officer from BEDB highlighted theimportance of making use of the opportunitiesgiven and to take full advantage of the facilitiesprovided by both the government and privatecorporations, namely BEDB and iCentre. Hence,it is hoped that the opportunities and supportextended through EAC would help to furtherachieve the national goal in cultivating andharnessing an innovative and creative youth.Tse Tow Joon Mann, the President of EAC alsoexpressed the importance of passion and a spark- which EAC means to ignite in the youths - topursue entrepreneurship not only as a transitionalor temporary means of income but rather as amain source of income and employment. He alsohighlighted the strong support and cooperationof EAC committee members and stressedthe importance of the team in making EAC asuccessful endeavour in addition to the externalsupport received. He was very hopeful that furthercooperation of EAC could be extended to includeyouths from multidiscplinary fields and from variousinstitutions.Activities and programmes organised under theEAC includes mentorship schemes with establishedentrepreneur and faculty members, exposure trips,competitions and entrepreneurship roadshows.The event also showcased the incubatees’business ideas and talents through verbal andvisual presentations of their project ideas, someof which are in the pipeline while others havealready been established. The audience wasalso entertained by two talent performances,which were presented as a preview and teaserfor an upcoming event organised by one of theincubatees.