iCentre — Brunei's First ICT Business Incubator at Anggerek Desa Technology Park

The Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) was established in 2001 to diversify the oil-dependent economy. It built a 17-hectare Anggerek Desa Technology Park in Bandar Seri Begawan comprising iCentre, a Knowledge Hub R&D building (opened 2009, US$4.8 million) and a Design & Technology Building (completed 2014, US$19 million).
iCentre admitted its first cohort of 9 local ICT companies in 2007 and for years operated in partnership with KR Consulting's Star Incubator, a unit of Singapore's National University of Singapore. It offered subsidised office space for up to 16 resident and 5 virtual companies, mentoring, and access to Accel-X, a government-seeded US$5 million venture-capital fund, plus the LEAP grant scheme (up to B$150,000 per award) for firms and researchers developing export-promising prototypes.
By around 2015, iCentre had incubated more than 40 startups and graduated 30, of which 2 (Infindo and Mesixty) went on to secure venture-capital funding. Its IGNITE Entrepreneurship Challenge (2012-2016) awarded up to B$54,000 in prizes. iCentre continues to operate today under Darussalam Enterprise (DARe), Brunei's national MSME agency established in 2016.
An independent ASEAN/JODC survey (2011) found only 18.3% of Brunei SMEs had bank financing and 76% had none at all, underlining the structural headwinds facing iCentre's cohort. A 2018 academic case study concluded incubation 'can work' in Brunei only with sustained global-local network management and long-term government commitment — success is conditional, not guaranteed.

Read the full analysis: https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/images/documents/SME%20Policies%20in%204%20ASEAN%20Countries%20-%20Brunei%20Darussalam.pdf