Bandar Seri Begawan - Officials from the Brunei Industrial Development Authority (Bina) are calling for the creation of a marketing house to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with what they see are key challenges in getting them export ready.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, Masni Hj Mohsin, special duties officer and head of industrial authority at Bin, said: "(SMEs) have problems in marketing." There should be a marketing division in the government to handle the marketing of SMEs, Hj Rosli DP Hj Hamdani, section head of estate management at Bina, also suggested that there needed to be a marketing house from the government's side to assist SMEs in pushing their products outside of the country and enable more networking, which he noted was a key challenge in the success of these businesses on the export market Masni said that on Bina's side, "We can still promote them. Once they are more developed (with) more clients, more buyers then they will be able to change their packaging" among other elements in a bid to differentiate the product. She used the example of producers of baked goods, being able to create better items, with the increased level of exposure and understanding that a marketing house could bring to these micro enterprises, also referred to as cottage industries.

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SME Corporation Malaysia yesterday at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre to jointly identify and develop programmes for cooperation in the fields of training, expertise, information, research and development, and other knowledge-based activities related to the development of SMEs in both countries.