The organisation's business consulting arm has already been active in the small southeast Asian jurisdiction, working with a number of start-ups. More broadly, Golden Equator intends to build relations with UHNW families and individuals in Brunei.

Singapore’s Golden Equator Group, the multi-family office, has added Brunei to its roster of jurisdictions in which it operates. The move comes after entrepreneur Taizo Son and others put S$24.6 million ($18.3 million) into the MFO.

Three of the group’s businesses – Golden Equator Wealth, Golden Equator Consulting, and potentially SPECTRUM – will be established in Brunei. The group has also appointed Aziemah Abdullah as country head, Golden Equator said in a statement yesterday.

GEW will focus on serving ultra-high net worth families and individuals in the jurisdiction. 

“From our conversations with Bruneian families, we understand that there’s a desire to understand proper wealth management and legacy preservation. There is also an encouraging interest in initiatives that involve the next-generation members of these families, which shows that the older generations are starting to plan how to pass down the family business and wealth to their children (NextGens) to manage,” Shirley Crystal Chua, founder and group CEO of Golden Equator, said.

In May 2019, the organisation officially launched its NextGen Programme. Bruneian families that took part were interested, and some of the next-generation family members subsequently attended Golden Equator’s NextGen Club soft launch later last year.

Last year Golden Equator also launched Family Office 2.0: Beyond Wealth Management, a publication which delves into the family office concept, succession planning, legacy preservation, and their growing importance, especially in Asia. GEW hopes to share this publication more broadly in Brunei as an introductory educational resource on Asian family offices.

There are controversies in Brunei, which is a shariah law jurisdiction. For instance, last May Brunei suspended its death penalty for homosexuality. This publication understands that Golden Equator constantly monitors such developments. 

Bootcamps
Golden Equator Consulting, the group’s digitally-focused business consulting arm, has been active in Brunei. So far, GECo has completed a total of three start-up “bootcamps” (Accelerate) and microbusiness “bootcamps” (The Micro Bootcamp) in the sultanate, and will conduct seven more in the next two years. 

GECo has also facilitated several partnerships for Singapore and Brunei start-ups which have led to the expansion of their different businesses, including Vault Dragon with BloodKad and Glints with Grominda. Vault Dragon has expanded into Brunei working with BloodKad and, together, they are talking to the Brunei government for a potential national initiative, Golden Equator said.