On Commonwealth Day (11 March), as High Commissioners in Bandar were gathering inside the Legislative Council building for our celebration with Pehin Speaker, one Bruneian was flying the flag for the Sultanate inside Marlborough House, at the celebration graced by Her Majesty The Queen. By publishing Fatin’s guest blog here, I have a strong sense of completing a circuit in the Commonwealth network, through which the energy of young Bruneians will flow increasingly, I hope.
My Commonwealth journey began when I went to New Delhi for an envisioning workshop in November 2011 to represent the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Brunei (YEAB). The two day workshop brought together entrepreneurs from eight Commonwealth- Asia nations for the first time. We realised we needed to create a platform that would link us together and enable us to work together more meaningfully towards promoting the spirit of enterprise. This led to the founding of the Commonwealth-Asia Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAAYE), Commonwealth’s inaugural entrepreneurs alliance. Within those two days, we created a charter and established the framework for the alliance henceforth sealing our commitment towards a common goal.
As part of our pledge, we converge every month virtually and every six months physically to continue our rapport and ensure progress. In our first interim meeting held in Kuala Lumpur in July 2012, Ms Katherine Ellis, Director- Youth Affairs from the Commonwealth-Secretariat flew from London to join us. Her visit provided us with the recognition of the alliance’s importance to the Commonwealth. That December, we headed to Mumbai bringing a delegation of entrepreneurs to CAAYE’s first Young Entrepreneur Summit. The 3 day meet brought together 200 young entrepreneurs to network and build business linkages. The outcome was a jointly prepared set of recommendations to improve the ecosystem of youth entrepreneurship in the form of an official communiqué that will be submitted to member Governments through the Commonwealth secretariat. I was joined by five young entrepreneurs from Brunei.
Last month, I joined my Commonwealth colleagues from India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Pakistan to a once in a lifetime opportunity in London for the Commonwealth Day Reception on 11th March held at the historical Marlborough House to meet Her Majesty the Queen, Prince Philip and accomplished figures from the various Commonwealth countries. During the few days in London, we made our way to the House of Lords for the CEC’s Commonwealth Day Symposium on Education and Enterprise where our Founder President, Dr Rahul Mirchandani introduced our alliance and our unique peer ‘network of networks’ structure. We also attended several meetings including one with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth.
Overall, the whole commonwealth experience has been a journey of learning and discovery. I can only see with optimism, the tremendous potential that the Commonwealth of Nations of 54 countries and 30% of the world’s population can achieve. To me personally, Commonwealth has come to mean family and commitment and I ponder with curiosity the contributions I can to make to shape our future with the experience, knowledge and networks I have gained.
P.S. Never have I imagined that I would ever say “I went to London to meet the Queen”. Even today, I still continue to rattle in disbelief!