Ghanim International Corporation Sdn Bhd was recently announced as one of the recipients of the prestigious ASEAN Inclusive Business (IB) Award at the Sixth ASEAN Inclusive Business Summit held at Bali, Indonesia.
The Award Gala Night which was held on the evening of 23rd August, was attended by various stakeholders and decision makers in the regional ASEAN business and financial sectors.
Mr Teten Masduki, the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (MenKopUKM) for Indonesia attended the gala evening as its guest of honour. Also present during the event was, Dr Hajah May Fa’ezah binti Haji Ahmad Ariffin, Permanent Secretary (Economy, Trade and Industry), Ministry of Finance and Economy Brunei Darussalam.
During the event, ten businesses from ten ASEAN countries, including Ghanim International Corporation as the Bruneian representative, were presented with the IB Award. The ASEAN Inclusive Business Awards were awarded to businesses that have demonstrated exemplary inclusive business practices. This award for ASEAN countries is proof of the dedication, innovation and collective efforts of ASEAN countries which have pushed SMEs towards a more inclusive and prosperous future.
Established in 2009, the company has been actively engaging with MSMEs including home based businesses directly or those under the 1K1P initiative for the development, production and marketing of Bruneian made products for the local and international markets under the bruneihalalfoods brand.
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghanim established the Buy Local Produce Campaign (BLPC, later renamed as Brunei Local Produce Centre) with the support of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Ministry of Home Affairs, Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) and Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism, which is an initiative to support Brunei’s farmers and growers in response to the temporary closures of several marketplace to ensure the incomes of local farmers and market vendors were not adversely affected by the pandemic, and to support and stabilise the prices of agricultural produce such as vegetables and fruits; while promoting continuity in agricultural farming locally during the challenging time.
In 2021, Ghanim established The Junction as a retail development programme to provide a platform for local participation to retail industry and additionally for local products to gain access to the market. The launch of The Junction marked a milestone as the first retail store to be fully owned and operated by Bruneians. There are currently over five outlets are operated across Brunei.
In 2023, Ghanim began the operation of the Brunei Food Industry Development (BFID) Processing Facility, with the aspiration to further contribute to Brunei’s food industry development through developing larger capacity for local food production, growing exports and providing platform for local MSMEs to grow.
On receiving the award, Dr Nur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of Ghanim, shared his gratitude and appreciation. “We would like to extend our gratitude and appreciation to the Ghanim team, management, board, MSMEs partners and other partners for their continuous support, dedication and hard work in contributing to reaching the national and commercial goals that the company set out to achieve.
We hope to continue to inspire businesses and corporations throughout Brunei Darussalam and ASEAN to adopt and implement inclusive and sustainable business practices.” Dr Nur Rahman added “working with MSMEs has been a commitment and opportunity for the company since its inception. We are grateful for the recognition, in our efforts to continue engaging proactively with MSMEs into our value chain and we hope to continue to contribute to realize the national objective for the diversification of the economy and to be the driver for food security and export.”