Building Markets - Timor-Leste

Closed and Gone Fishin’?

Edward Rees — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:58:02 +0000

Well yesterday we announced the immediate closure of the Peace Dividend Marketplace project in Timor-Leste. There are some interested donors, but time was against us, so closure was announced via @twitter here in English and here in Tetun.

So we are…

and so I am….

But my thanks to Maria, Bety, Adelaide, Pedro, Paulino, Agi, Lina, Mariazinha, Ilidio, Jose, Eduardo, Maria Teresa, Baptista, Simao, Gualdina, Lily, Adalgiza, Gilberto, Vasco, Manuel, Octavio, Domingos A, Dominguss P, Domingos S, Helio, Antoninho, Ricardo, Edmundo, Elstry, Apoli, Domingas, Angelica, Sylvania, Zenilda, Nilda, Ana Paula, Celio, Gaspar, Helven, and Benigno. These people and more were the ones that made it all happen.

If you want to read about what happened (ie what the project got done) read it here.

Then again perhaps we might be able to say….

Made in Timor-Leste: manufacturing in Timor-Leste?

Edward Rees — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:46:10 +0000

Well many people have often bemoaned the fact that Timor-Leste cannot not manufacture anything. Pessimism never got anyone anywhere – and the Timorese and their business partners are proving some of us all wrong. I was driving up the road in Becora today and I was reminded of some things I saw over the weekend on a tour of some of the western districts.

What did I see in Becora? A power pole manufacturer….

Tampin Team LDA - Becora manufacturing.

What did I see in Balibo and Maliana over the weekend? Power poles of a similar design to the ones being made as above. Now while they may not be building space shuttles in Timor-Leste yet, things are certainly moving ahead faster than a decade ago. Or even a couple of years ago.

Power Poles in between Balibo and Maliana July 2012.

Power poles stockpiled on the outskirts of Maliana, Bobonaro District, Timor-Leste. July 2012.

Now in case I have got my facts all wrong, and these power poles were in fact not made in Timor-Leste – have a look at what popped up just past Tibar last year.

A real life factory - making cement and steel power poles for the national electricity grid.

Here you have a closer view of power poles "Made in Timor-Leste"!

Then lo and behold what does one see all along the road from Atabae to Batugade? The very same power poles. Hundreds of them. They are going up all over the country. Not for me to say if they are made well, sold at a fair price, or installed properly – but its a hell of a step forward.

Out with the Old and In with the New.

Made in Timor-Leste!

Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Edward Rees — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 05:39:15 +0000

Well what can I say? ”Imitation is the highest form of flattery.” Some years ago we painted the Tiga Rodas of Dili with this below logo.

That rather annoying, but attractive, orange circle.

You can see all the pics of the tiga rodas here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150249358936334.320763.283327151333

The birth of the "orange circle" tiga roda.

Then just a few days ago someone emailed us a picture of a young man who has “jury rigged” his Tiga Road near the Hotel Timor to join the crowd. Imitation = flattery. We extend our thanks.

Obrigado - husi PDT.

And the close up is here:

And for those of you who want to know where the expression “imitation is the highest form of flattery” comes from, here is one theory, according to Blurtit.com

A man by the name of Charles Caleb Colton is attributed with the phrase ‘Imitation is the best form of flattery’. An Eton educated graduate, he was selected by the Vicarage of Kew to begin his career as a Reverend – alas he had a very turbulent appointment with the Church and after only sixteen years’ service he left and travelled to the USA. It was rumoured that he had to give up his career as he had become burdened with debt and his creditors took out a lawsuit on him. During his life, he produced a substantial body of poetry and prose covering revered subjects such as Napoleon, Nero, Oliver Cromwell Samuel Johnson and Caligula.
He moved to Paris, France, where he indulged in a gambling habit that brought him success and then in turn much poverty. He resided in France until his death. He died from a recurring illness of which he was too fearful to take any surgery for and therefore took his own life quite violently at fifty-two – it is thought that the fear of the procedure drove him to insanity. His most famous works are to be found in a book entitled Lacon or Many Things in Few Words; this was published in London 1826 and is appreciated widely in many literary circles

Serbisu Ligasaun ! Importante ka lae ?

Brigida Soares — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 02:59:23 +0000

Ema barak sempre husu, lolos serbisu saida maka ami ninia ekipa halo durante ne’e iha Peace Dividend Trust/PDT? Esplikasaun barak klarifika ona liu husi apresentasaun iha seminario sira, liu husi media hanesan journal, video, brosura no seluk-seluk tan katak, serbisu ne’ebe ami nia ekipa hala’o mak serbisu Ligasaun ka iha liafuan ingles dehan “Matchmaking”. Maibe lolos, saida maka serbisu Ligasaun ka “Matchmaking” ne’e? Oinsa prosesu halao serbisu Ligasaun? Se mak persija hetan tulun liu husi serbisu ida ne’e?

Serbisu Ligasaun nudar serbisu ida ne’ebe defisil tebes se karik laiha informasaun no sei sai fasil tebes karik iha informasaun konkreta ne’ebe mak prontu atu utiliza hodi tulun negosiantes sira hasoru malu. Dadus negosiantes nian nudar informasaun basiko ne’ebe mak importante atu prepara informasaun ba relatorio pedidu nian, ho dadus negosiantes ne’ebe kolekta husi ekipa Verifikasaun PDT halo fasil serbisu Ligasaun. Nune mos atu halao serbisu Ligasaun, pedidu/rekizasaun mak sai savi atu liga negosiantes sira (Negosiantes lokal no Internasional). Pedidu/rekizasaun nudar prosesu husu informasaun merkado nian liu husi ekipa PDT kona ba sasan ka serbisu ne’ebe mak sosa nain no faan nain sira interese no hakarak.

Negosiantes rai-laran sai nudar objetu ba serbisu Ligasaun, negosiantes rai laran persiza tebes tulun atu hetan informasaun merkado nian ho razaun katak falta informasaun merkado nian sempre halo sira lakon oportunidade atu halao negosio ne’ebe oferese.

Pedidu/rekizasaun ne’ebe maka manda mai PDT, balun fasil atu kompleta lalais e balun fali defisil atu kompleta tamba informasaun sira ne’ebe husu barak seidauk verifika. Dala barak pedidu ne’ebe haruka liu husi e-mail, kada loron bele 6 to 7. Pedidu sira ne’e sempre diferente, ezemplu hanesan sosa nain balun hakarak hetan informasaun kona ba kompania ne’ebe mak fo aluga kareta, balun fali hakarak sosa produktu lokal hanesan foremunggu, forekeli ho kuantidade barak, balun fali hakarak buka kuzinheru no seluk seluk tan.

Relatorio pedidu ne’ebe maka manda mai PDT, balun fasil atu kompleta lalais e balun fali defisil atu kompleta tamba informasaun sira ne’ebe husu barak seidauk verifika. Dala barak pedidu ne’ebe haruka liu husi e-mail, kada loron bele 6 to 7. Pedidu sira ne’e sempre diferente, ezemplu hanesan sosa nain balun hakarak hetan informasaun kona ba kompania ne’ebe mak fo aluga kareta, balun fali hakarak sosa produktu lokal hanesan foremunggu, forekeli ho kuantidade barak, balun fali hakarak buka kuzinheru no seluk seluk tan.

Iha loron hirak liu ba, iha data 27 Julho 2011, PDT simu pedidu ida husi kompania Australia ida ne’ebe maka serbisu iha projetu kitan hamutuk ho kompania mina-rai “eni”. Kompania ida ne’e , iha komitmentu atu fo serbisu ba ema timor oan no iha tempu badak atu haruka lalais ema nain hat ne’e ba tuir treinamentu iha Singapura. Pedidu ne’ebe manda mai PDT urgente tebes, maneger kompania ne’e hakarak hasoru malu ho agensia nebe halao serbisu rekrutamento iha Timor-Leste atu buka ema sira ne’ebe mak bele kompleta kriteria ne’ebe sira hakarak.

Hare ba pedidu ne’ebe mak urgente, aktividades prepara relatorio ba pedidu nian mos komesa prepara nia maneira ka dalan hanesan tuir mai ne’e:

Faze dahuluk: Kolekta informasaun kona ba agensia rekrutamento iha Timor laran liu husi www.buildingmarkets.org, visita negosiante relevante sira, halo xamada telefone hodi buka informasaun relevante.
Faze daruak: Hatama informasaun nebe’e hetan ba iha formatu relatoriu pedidu nian ne’ebe mak prepara ona.
Faze datolu: halo xamada telefone no manda SMS ba negosiantes relevantes atu esplika sosa nain nia hakarak no nia kriteria ne’ebe mak sira hato’o.
Faze hat: Kompleta informasaun ne’ebe hetan husi negosiantes sira via telefone no sms e manda relatorio pedidu ne’e ba sosa nain nebe mak husu liu husi e-mail.

Atu produs relatorio pedidu ida ne’ebe diak no exatu dalaruma bele gasta tempu to oras tolu ka ha’at e dala ruma mos bele gasta tempu to semana no fulan depende ba pedidu ne’ebe mak hetan.

Durante halao serbisu ligasaun ne’e akipa Ligasaun/Matchmaking konsege fasilita transaksaun ba ligasaun entre sosa nain no faan nain sira ho pedidu ne’ebe mai husi sektores diferente hamutuk 14.000 pedidu ho total valor osamentu ne’ebe mak serkula ona hamutuk miliaun $10.

Timor-Leste Air Warz Redux

Edward Rees — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:31:31 +0000

Well here at PDT we are turning into something of plane spotters. We have blogged a bit on the nascent airline business in Timor-Leste December 2010, and February 2011.

The long long awaited Timor Air has apparently arrived – and is about to start flying the Dili-Darwin-Dili route, starting just 72 hours from now. Booming air travel is often the sign of a growing economy – just as airlines are often the first to feel the pinch in hard times. In Timor-Leste these days its all about more planes not less.

Air Timor Website (http://www.flytimorair.com/)

After getting the word via Twitter that the Vincent Aviation website had announced a new route in partnership with Timor Air I had a look and its – well – true. And here is the beauty of competition, seems you can get tickets at 50% the price of Air North. Try $269 versus $500.

Vincent Aviation (http://www.vincentaviation.com.au)

One has to wonder if we will see a replay of the Merpati – Batavia struggle earlier this year. Batavia gave Merpati a run for its money. However, Merpati, with deeper pockets buried Batavia. Batavia had to go from daily schedules to just twice a week. But it has kept prices down somewhat.

Mind you many people are in an “I hate Merpati mood these days”.

Three days ago the plane was three hours late, yesterday it did not come at all, and today it was a no show as well, but apparently (according to this tweep) they are going to borrow a Batavia plane….?!

Having said all that the local media is having a field day. Online media outlet CJITL published a story this afternoon saying “Merpati are liars, passengers ask the Government to cancel Merpati in Timor-Leste.” They have some very juicy quotes from the national Provedor, and the the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission – among the stranded passengers. Anyway that is the chattering classes of Dili for you. Some of my friends in a far away place called Passabe can only watch the high altitude vapor trails.

Three days ago I had the pleasure of flying very late on what can only be described as a Merpati “clunker” from Denpasar to Dili. Take note of the peeling paint all over the front end of this 18th century era B737.

The Clunker

Then if you look very closely you will see the top starboard rear window seems, well how to say it? Cracked up… I especially like the guy on his mobile phone sitting next to the nose landing gear. Isn’t there an urban myth about a problem with mobile phone signals and aviation fuel in close proximity?

Safety standards notwithstanding - we fly every day - except for the ones we don't.

In any event we now have Merpati, and Batavia, on the Dili-Denpasar run.

Air Timor has a lock on the Dili-Singapore jaunt.

Meanwhile Timor Air and Air North are poised to knock heads on the Dili-Darwin puddle jump.

Apparently pretty soon Timor-Leste Airways plans to offer flights to SIX destinations (Macau, Jakarta, Surabaya, Perth, Kupang and Denpasar).

As I post this blog Merpati mania continues at the airport.

CCI-TL: Good Things Grow in Timor-Leste

Edward Rees — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 05:52:26 +0000

When it comes to business in Timor-Leste I would ask that you remember just five letters. C,C, I,T and L – they are important. Up at the top of Timor-Leste – in Ainaro, good things grow. But down in Dili there are also good things growing too. In April 2010 the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Timor-Leste (CCI-TL) was inaugurated. When they come together its a recipe for success.

It was certainly not the start of the Timorese private sector but was most definitely the start of a much needed body to represent, and provide services to, the local business community in Timor-Leste.

Since then the CCI-TL has really taken a running start at things. There are now district level Chambers of Commerce across the country, and to be honest, they are getting things done. Recently the CCI-TL posted some of its activities on facebook. It seems the CCI-TL and the CCI-Ainaro have been connecting vegetable suppliers with Dili based buyers such as Leader Supermarket, Lita Store, Hotel Timor and Focus Group Traditional Market.

High high up in the central mountains of Timor-Leste in the district of Ainaro are massive vegetable gardens. Not as productive as they could be for sure, but perhaps this is lack of incentive – ie buyers. But the CCI-TL and the CCI-Ainaro are getting the vegetable suppliers of Hatubuilico connected to buyers.

CCI-TL and CCI-Ainaro with growers in Hatubuilico (credit: CCI-TL)

Now this is a business matchmaking success story. (credit: CCI-TL)

You may well ask where on earth is Hatubuilico? See the yellow circle.

Hatubuilico - look closely the yellow circle marks the breadbasket.

Like all good young Timorese institutions and people, CCI-TL has a facebook fanpage here, and a brand new website right here. I would really suggest you make contact with them.

“Jeitu”produsaun foun lembransa/souvenir Timor-Leste.

Brigida Soares — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:02:04 +0000

Lembransa furak ne'ebe produs husi "Jeitu".

Kelu/Lasu liman furak ne'ebe produs uza tais.

Hakarak sosa lembransa/souvenir furak husi Timor-Leste hanesan prezente ba familia sira, agora dadaun produsaun ba lembransa sira ne’e fasil atu hetan iha Dili laran. “Jeitu” naran husi kompania foun ne’ebe hari iha tinan kotuk iha fulan Novembru 2010, kompania ida ne’e hari’i ho objektivu atu halo produsaun ba lembransa furak husi Timor-Leste.

Roberto no Jose mak produs lembransa furak sira ne'e.

Sra. Sheila Boston, Instruktur ne'ebe hanorin produs lembransa.

Iha loron 17 Maio 2011, PDT visita kompania foun ne’e atu hare deretamente oinsa sira produs lembransa furak sira ne’e, liu husi intervista badak ne’ebe halo, afinal lembrasa furak sira ne’e produs husi Joven mane nain rua ho naran Rosentino C. Martins no Jose Franco ne’ebe mak kreativo tebes liu husi instrusaun Sra. Sheila Boston, Australiana ida. Fatin produsaun ba lembransa sira ne’e iha rua Taibessi Matando, aldeia Jembatan Bessi, suco Lahane Oriental, sub-distrito Nain Feto, Dili, Timor-Leste.

Brinkus furak produsaun "Jeitu"

Tuir informasaun ne’ebe mak hatoo husi Sra. Sheila, sira produs lembransa sira ne’e utiliza tais Timor husi distritu hotu e mos uza ekipamentos lokal hanesan nu’u kulit no seluk tan. Lembransa furak sira ne’e mak hanesan livro, kartao furak, kaixa kiik, pasta kafe’e, brinkus, kelu, bandoleti no produsaun furak seluk ne’ebe mak oferese husi kompania ida ne’e. Lembransa sira ne’e barak liu sira exporta ona ba Australia hanesan ba cidade Adelaide no Melbourne. Iha Dili, kapital Timor-Leste produsaun sira ne’e ita bele hetan iha Alola Foundation no Mercado Tais, Kolmera.

Karik defisil atu visita sira nia fatin, bele kontaktu ba numero telfone +670-788.7890/+670-727.6307, no mos bele liu husi email jeitu.tl@gmail.com.

Timorese on Twitter

Edward Rees — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 07:40:55 +0000

Well facebook is officially a bit of a craze in Timor-Leste. Underneath the surface of things there is really a lot of social change going on in Timor-Leste. Not really surprising given the increasing access to technology, a wave of petro dollars pushing the bar, and most of the population being under 20 years old.

Late last night I had a look at the #timor hastag on Twitter and found a growing crowd of #Timor tweeps. Six months ago I blogged on Twitter in #Timor and last night I realised its a growing thing as well.

Is Timor-Leste going to be crazy over Twitter?

So what I decided to do was grab as many of them as I could in an hour and the below list is my #Timor tweeps catch as of 26 June 2011. I define a Timor tweep as a user that is Timorese, in Timor-Leste, or someone that tweets Timor stuff. There are even a handful of Tweeps on smartphone 3G tweeting while mobile. Its expensive though – although the Government just made a serious move to liberalise the telcoms sector last week.

There is even a group of Timorese who are making Timor Twitter T-Shirts – right here via facebook no less.

Timor Twitter - credit Lasakar (www.facebook.com/lasakartshirt)

More than a few Timorese businesses are getting online via twitter as well, but its still a small group, they might want have a a look at the new Timorese Chamber of Commerce Twitter account here…..

A B C D E

F G H I J

K L M N O P

Q R S T U

V X Y Z

Here are Top Ten Twitter Tips for businesses, care of Chris Brogan.

Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
Talk about non-business, too, like @aaronstrout and @jimstorer.

“Joint venture” posibel ou lae ?

Brigida Soares — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 07:03:38 +0000

Misaun Entrepreneur Northern Terittory iha Timor-Leste, Maio 2011.

Seminar ne'ebe hala'o iha Hotel Timor husi delegasaun entrepreneur Australia.

Saida mak “Joint venture” ?

“Joint venture” ka parseria mak kooperasaun/serbisu hamutuk entre komponente rua atu kria negosio hamutuk iha tempu ne’ebe sira determina, iha signifikasaun seluk mak parseria negosio ne’ebe tau hamutuk investementu no responsabilidade tuir kontratu ne’ebe sira halo.

Posibel ou lae “joint venture” ne’e akontese ? Perguntas ida ne’e mosu tamba hare’e ba inisiativa kompania lokal Timor-Leste nian menus liu wainhira konvida atu tuir enkontru ne’ebe mak koalia kona ba oportunidade parseria ka “ joint venture” iha area minarai no gas ho kompania fornesedor husi Australia.

Livrinu kona ba informasaun geral misaun delegasaun nian.

Iha semana balu liu ba iha loron 29 -31 Maio 2011, iha delegasaun husi Australia visita Timor-Leste. Delegasaun ida ne’e organiza husi Australia’s Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce, delegasaun ne’ebe mai kompostu husi kompania fornesedor hamutuk rua nolu resin ida (21) ho objektivo atu estabelese kontaktu ho entrepreneur lokal ne’ebe mak iha kapasidade atu halao ” joint venture” ka parseria. Areas importante hirak ne’ebe mak sira interese monu ba seitor spesifiku lima hanesan uma no konstrusaun, minarai no gas,edukasaun, infrastuktur no logistik.

Liu husi koordenasaun ne’ebe diak entre PDT no Australia’s Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce, komisaun organizadora ba delegasaun sra. Nicole Hore husu PDT nia tulun atu kontaktu entrepreneur Timor-Leste ne’ebe mak interese atu hasoru malu ho delegasaun ne’ebe mai. Ho durasaun tempu ne’ebe badak no utiliza online baze de dadus www.buildingmarkets.org, ne’ebe mak parseria ho Miniterio Turismu, Comersiu no Industria (MTCI), PDT konsege haruka email no kontaktu via telefone ba komponia lokal, kuaze atus ida lima nolu (150) ne’ebe mak iha potensia atu bele realiza parseria.

Agenda Seminar ne'ebe halao iha dia 30 de Maio 2011.

Ikus mai Iha dia 30 de Maio 2011, delegasaun ne’ebe mai realiza duni seminar iha Hotel Timor, komesa iha dader tuku 8.00 otl no remata iha lokraik horas 3.30 otl. Seminar ida ne’e loke husi Ministru Ekonomia e Desenvolvimento Sr. Joao Goncalves no iha nia liafuan badak, nia espresa Timor nia rikezas ne’ebe mak laos mai husi seitor minarai no gas deit maibe mai mos husi seitores seluk ne’ebe mak fo oportunidade atu bele investe. Iha parte seluk iha seminar ne’ebe refere delegasaun ne’e mos halo aprezentasaun husi kompania idak idak ne’ebe mak espresa sira nia hakarak atu buka parseria ho entrepreneur lokal.

Simon Dring husi Industry Capability Network dadalia ho Florencio Sanches nain ba kompania fornesedor lokal Rencio Sanches Unipessoal.

Depois enkontru remata, PDT hetan konvite husi kompania ida ho naran Hodgkison Architects atu hasoru malu nune’e bele hetan informasaun geral kona ba kondisaun ekonomiko e mos informasaun kona ba engineiro Timor oan sira ne’ebe mak iha matenek iha area desenha gestaun/design management nune bele hetan oportunidade atu tuir kursu iha Australia.

Obstaklu bo’ot ne’ebe maka identifika iha seminar maka hanesan faktores lingua ne’ebe defisil atu liga kompania lokal ho kompania ne’ebe mai husi rai liur. Hare’e ba kestaun ida ne’e parte rua ne’ebe iha tenki aprende, iha parte ida kompania lokal sira tenki aprende lingua ingles no iha parte seluk kompania internasional sira ne’ebe mai tengki aprende lingua Tetum, obstaklu geral seluk ne’ebe mak mensiona mos maka kondisaun estrada, elektrisidade, transporte no seluk tan ne’ebe mak seidauk sufisiente to agora.

Tuir planu kompania Hodgkison Architects sei mai fali Timor-Leste iha fulan Setembru 2011, sira iha esperansa atu hasoru malu ho engineiro lokal ne’ebe mak iha interese atu serbisu hamutuk ho kompania ne’ebe refere. Se karik ita bo’ot sira hakarak hasoru malu ho kompania Hodgkison Architects bele kontaktu ami iha numero telefone; +670-332.2823, +670-729.8264 ka haruka email mai bbsoares@pdtglobal.org.

Komoro Calls You. House for Rent.

Edward Rees — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 06:48:58 +0000

So a Timorese chap asked me to help him out with renting his house.

No problem!

Here is what he has to say:

“This beautiful house is currently available for rent. The house is situated in Komoro area about 6 minutes driving from main town depending on the traffic. The house has 3 bedrooms the master bedroom with AC has toilet inside with hot water, another bedroom with AC, one living room, one dining room also with AC, one big kitchen inside, another toilet is also inside the house. Security bar for all windows and wall around the house, one garage can be fitted for two cars. The area is save with a nice view to the hill and space in front yard for gardening during your free time.

It will be fully furnished once the agreement is made between the renter and the owner.

A generator will also be provided. If anyone of you or someone you might know who is interested, please contact me on Phone: 7260334 / 7232469. Thank you.”