The Role of Ecosystem Builders in Enhancing Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Innovations in Brunei Darussalam / Mohammed Afiq bin Mohammed

Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (by research) in Management

Abstract
Brunei Darussalam demonstrated modest improvements in economic performance but continued to face challenges in innovation. As reported by the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics, the national GDP grew by 4.2% in 2024, following a slower growth rate of 1.1% in 2023, marking a recovery from consecutive contractions of -1.6% in both 2021 and 2022. However, innovation outcomes remained limited, as evidenced by Brunei's decline in the Global Innovation Index, where it ranked 88th out of 133 countries in 2024, a slight drop from 87th in 2023. This reflects a broader downward trend from 71st in 2020, indicating persistent structural challenges in fostering innovation. The economy's health is an indicator to measure the striving of the Bruneian ecosystem. With a low growth, it indicates Brunei's limitations in various areas such as less diversification and start-up creation for local businesses, scarce foreign direct investment (FDI) and local investments, lack of access to foreign market access and stagnant infrastructure for businesses. This brings to perspective the importance of the role of the ecosystem builders in Brunei Darussalam's entrepreneurial ecosystem. The purpose of the study is to analyse entrepreneurial ecosystem builders in how they can support entrepreneurship and innovation especially in the startup development in the Brunei Darussalam ecosystem. The research adopts a qualitative research approach with a total of 15 respondents that were interviewed from various backgrounds, 7 of which are ecosystem builders and 8 of which are entrepreneurs. The interviews were conducted online via Zoom. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Based on the findings, ecosystem builders in Brunei Darussalam's contribution do not have a direct impact on the entrepreneurs but are a necessary support in the economy and innovation. Entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders are all seeking economic growth. Entrepreneurs contribute to the economy by growing their business and will seek for resources and support that can stimulate growth.
There were several limitations with the primary issue that these research samples were collected and conducted during COVID-19 Pandemic and it gives limitations to get more respondents during the period of 2020 to 2022.

Thesis (Master) -Universiti Teknologi Brunei, 2025

Includes bibliographical references from page 136-144