Husband and wife duo Aimi Ramlee and Mark Harbison founded Tyne Solutions, a software and creative solutions company, to enable businesses of all sizes and nongovernmental organizations to give flexibility to their workers. “Our focus is creating tools that enable people to work remotely and across different countries,” said Ramlee.
Based in Brunei, the company has clients across 3 continents and in 12 different countries. “We have a unique situation here in Brunei. With our population of less than half a million it is virtually impossible to sustain or grow a business to scale,” said Ramlee. “We started from the get-go with a strategy to focus internationally,” she explained, adding that they consider themselves a “virtual company.” ”Borders aren’t an issue, so treating the international market as our first point of focus is a natural step for us,” noted Ramlee. While they have a few local clients, the vast majority of their business is international.
Today Ramlee and Harbison have 3 employees on their team in Brunei and a network of international software developers with whom they contract. Ramlee, a local Bruneian, and Harbison, from the UK, are making it a priority to train local software developers to support their growing client base.
In addition to building cloud-based solutions for their clients, the entire company operates on cloud-based tools. “Everything we do from an operations standpoint runs on the cloud,” emphasized Ramlee. Tools like G-Suite, Atlassian products, and Amazon Cloud Services allow Tyne Solutions to operate day to day and grow their international clientele.
“Build [your] knowledge on the tools that are available to bring your company online,” Ramlee advises budding global entrepreneurs. One of the biggest issues she sees in Southeast Asia is the lack of an online presence. “Even the smallest, most traditional businesses should have an online presence,” notes Ramlee, adding that “The internet is the most democratizing force in entrepreneurship.”