BiG Buzz: Women Rise Together

by Jia Ying Chia

It was a whirlwind weekend of fun and conversation at the Weekend Wanita pop up event which was held in celebration of the International Women’s Day this year.

Touted as a celebration of the country’s female community and women empowerment, the inaugural event was organised by Master’s students from Universiti Brunei Darussalam, in collaboration with Big Begawan and UBD’s School of Business and Economics.

The event shares this year’s International Women’s Day theme of ‘DigiALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’, which aims to advocate the innovation of digital technology, education and sustainability aligned with the trend of the current circular economy through activities such as open space workshops and panel discussion talk.

Present as the guest of honor in the inauguration ceremony was the Deputy Dean of UBDSBE, Dr. Wardah Hakimah Binti Haji Sumardi. The invited speakers were Liyana Sidek, the first female weightlifter to represent Brunei on various international weightlifting stages; Dr. Helena Hurairah, a consultant ophthalmic surgeon specialising in general adult ophthalmology, pediatric ophthalmology, strabismus and complex cataract surgery and the current lead of the Children’s Eye Service in Brunei Darussalam and the third speaker, Angie Ang, an ecosystem builder and and active youth advocate specifically through the startup and creative scene where she currently serves as a Senior Training Associate at Pinnacle by Golden Equator in Brunei specialising in boot camps and masterclasses for budding startup entrepreneurs.

The ceremony was also attended by delegates from Big BWN Project, the US Embassy, AYAN Brunei as well as Learning Ladders, with Sally Hani of The Honey BN, present as moderator for the panel discussion set during the first day of the event.

For more info:

IG: @weekendwanita.bn