A few weeks ago, I was emailed by the peeps from eBunda.org to join one of their eBunda Cafe sessions to talk about the reality of women in online businesses, on our local university radio, UBDfm.

I felt pretty honoured to be asked to be one of their panelists, and how could I say 'No' to such an opportunity?

For those of you who are just hearing of eBunda.org now, it is a portal developed by BAG Networks, as an initiative by women as part of Brunei's contribution towards the world's human capital and diversity agenda. It is also in line with Brunei Darussalam's Vision 2035 towards a modern and sophisticated society through the development of women. 

Their website (eBunda.org) contains articles, insights and posts, by women for women, that talks about issues and topics that we can relate to.

UBDfm is the first university based radio station that serves as a medium for sharing information, discussions and of course, good music. Although it is broadcasted via streaming only, in this age of computers and smartphones, UBDfm is pretty accessible from whereever you are. 

I have also just started to tune in to UBDfm, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed already.

So, it was really interesting to get to see what goes on 'behind the scenes' during the eBunda Cafe session.

Asides from myself representing Orchid Row, there are four other lovely ladies who were there for the session to share their own experiences and advice :-

• Aliya of JustCinful; maker of sinful cinnamon buns 

• Naqiyah of naqiyahishaaq,com; supremo makeup artist

• Sharifah Robani Hussain Assagaf (or simply Bunny) of Bunny's Yummies; baker of healthy yet heavenly pastries

• Farhanna of Na-Forrer; fashionista with an online boutique

It was really great to meet these ladies, and share what we've been through and what we've learnt from our experiences.

We talked about our struggles to manage time, family and friends with our side jobs. We talked about how all that we've achieved wouldn't have been possible if we didn't have the passion and love in what we do. We talked about our hopes and dreams of the future of our businesses.

The facilitator of the session was the lovely Rozana Yunos of BAG Networks, who did a great job of making us feel comfortable and leading us into the different topics. Thinking back, she might have done too good a job, because in the end, I think she was trying to figure out how to stop us from talking since we ran out of time. Lol!

And the DJ on air was DJ Ana (@anabubuchacha), who sounded like a total pro! She did our introductions in a string of words for, like, 5 minutes or something. And we're wondering how did she breathe through that?!

After the session, we retired to the UBDfm lounge where we sampled Aliya's and Bunny's delicious desserts. We also had two visitors who dropped by to say 'Hello', namely Puan Haslina Taib, CEO of BAG Networks and Delwin (@BruneiTweet of ProjekBrunei).

All in all, it was a fun experience and I'm glad to be a part of it. And I do hope that those who listened in did learn a few things from our discussion. If any of you do want to know more about running an online business, I'm sure any of the ladies (including myself) wouldn't mind sharing a few tips if you email them.

Oh, the eBunda Cafe session also got covered in Borneo Bulletin's last Sunday's issue. And it wasn't just a small blurb too. That was a nice surprise. :)

Lastly, if you had missed out, I've uploaded an mp3 file of the Thinkin Thoughts session below. Fair warning though, it's a pretty big file. :)

I also want to thank (again) eBunda.org and UBDfm for an awesome time. Both are great initiatives and I urge you readers to check them out soon. 

Til next time!

eBunda Cafe provides a platform in which information can be shared and to create awareness on issues which are important to women such as health, environment, business and finance, career, education and affirmative action in influencing a positive contribution to Brunei.

Learn more about eBunda.org.

Tune into UBDfm.

Comments, anyone?