Thousands submitted stories of worthy aims to the BIBD Wish Campaign, but only one was deemed worthy of the Grand Wish Award. BIBD officially named Pengiran Dr Rahmah bte Pengiran Haji Jadid, the founding member of Darusysyifa Warrafahah, an Islamic medical association, as the campaign’s Grand Awardee at the final Wish Presentation held today at the Rizqun International Hotel.

Present as the guest of honour to present the grand wish of up to BND1,000,000 to Pengiran Dr Rahmah bte Pengiran Haji Jadid was His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik.

Pengiran Dr Rahmah is the ideal Wish Awardee. Despite the odds, her ambition fueled her drive to develop a faith-inspired, holistic healthcare facility, setting the standards in Brunei and throughout Asia. With the BND 1 million Grand Award, she can continue to make an impact on the lives of many.

“Her story has inspired us, because instead of pursuing only her own success, she stepped out of her comfort zone to make a real difference,” Javed Ahmad, Acting Managing Director at BIBD, said in his opening speech at the award presentation.

The idea of the BIBD Wish Campaign came about in late 2008 when a Cross Functional Team was formed to create a programme that will allow Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam to play a role in shaping and cultivating a new way of savings amongst Bruneians.

The Wish Campaign was also developed in response to His Majesty the Sultan’s Titah on one of the country’s strategies toward creating the economy. Being the one and only Shariah compliant bank in Brunei Darussalam, BIBD feels that this campaign will further emphasize its role to scale up its customers’ awareness and opportunities, as they pursue their purpose while saving with us.

At BIBD, we understand that nurturing and developing this culture will take time and hopefully with the whole hearted continuous support of the Bruneians endeavor to realize the sincerity and importance of savings, this will materialize.

The Wish Campaign was officially launched by the Minister of Development YB Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Abdullah bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar who was also then the Chairman of BIBD in March 2009.

Through this campaign, the bank aspires to cultivate a culture of savings among Bruneians in a sustainable manner by encouraging its customers to increase savings every month. This is a good practice for individuals to save up to B$500.00 in order to get a Wish code.

The aim of maintaining a healthy average balance, in this Campaign of B$2000.00, was to create a nurturing discipline where BIBD’s customers will not be dependent on debt to realize meaningful goals or any short-term aspirations.

Over the period of the Wish Campaign, seven judges were selected to assess the short-listed stories over the past nine months. They were individuals from a variety of professions from finance, academic, literature and shariah.

As for the Grand Wish Award, another set of eight new judges were introduced, to ensure continuous impartiality and the panel were experts from the fields of business, academia, shariah as well as media and information. The judges for the grand award on March 18 had the opportunity to interview the 12 Wish award nominees in order to evaluate the nominees’ Wish thoroughly.

The Wish stories were evaluated under four main criteria:

1. Their current financial state
2. Transformational role of savings in the nominees’ life
3. The Nominee’s future plans
4. Inclusiveness of the Wish

Throughout the nine-month campaign, a total of 93 Wish-Makers had their wishes granted.

In addition, three Wish-Makers were granted Wish Award of BND100,0000.00 each for every quarter in July, October and January 2010.

As the campaign progressed, BIBD saw Wish-makers putting more thought into their Wish stories and showing maturity in their financial plans. The types of stories submitted show that more and more Bruneians are beginning to grasp the transformative role that savings can play in people’s lives.

It is heartening to see that our customers are beginning to understand the instrumental role that financial planning plays in the pursuit of their aspirations. This shows that we are achieving our fundamental goal, which is to encourage savings.

The BIBD Wish Campaign closed in December, with a total of 16,000 stories received over the course of the campaign’s run. These Wish stories were submitted through BIBD’s Wish website at www.bibdwish.com and to our branches. Bruneians whose stories showcased their financial discipline were awarded and guided one step closer toward their goals.

As the first Grand Wish Awardee, Pg Dr Rahmah expressed her thanks to the Muslim community for contributing to the association’s vision to provide public aid and welfare while promoting Islam.

She plans to use the Wish Award to improve her organisation’s existing medical facility. Since the association’s humble beginnings in 2007, their members have increased to more than 200.

The health courses organised by the association, which cater to students training to be professional treatment operators and individuals seeking to obtain general health knowledge, often enjoy full subscription.

Amid requests to organise a second intake of Islamic Medical Practice Course, Darusysyifa Warrafahah is expected to recruit 200 members in 2010 and are facing space constraints. The Wish Award will assist with Pg Dr Rahmah’s plan to house the increasing number of patients and course members.

The improved medical facility will include a clinic, a research centre to study the science of Rasullulah medical practices and a training centre. Part of the Wish Award will also go toward defraying accomodation costs for the teachers and researchers.

Now, with the success of this first Wish Campaign, we have decided to make it a part of our financial solutions programme. We are committed to continue fulfilling its customers’ needs and offering solutions to their financial problems.