It has been a lot of fun being involved in the Peace Dividend Marketplace project (PDM-TL) in Timor-Leste. In fact it has been among some of the most useful work I have ever done.
The Timor-Leste Business Portal found at BuildingMarkets.org has about 2,700 business profiles online. This website acts as something of a nerve centre for the real added value of the project – the Tender Distribution, Matchmaking and Marketing teams. These teams create awareness, push tenders and create business transactions for businesses on the Business Portal. The Portal is critical for sure, but the real money is made off the teams that move business information to buyers and suppliers around the country. These teams help Timorese businesses make millions of dollars a year.
It is remarkable how a little information can go a long way. This is not lost on the Timorese. Information is power. When confronted with a struggle against a dictatorship they used information to survive, make their case, outwit those that hunted them, and to advocate for change inside and outside Timor-Leste.
In the context of an independent Timor-Leste information is still powerful. In this case commercial information.
Alot of PDM-TL’s work focuses on getting the international community to spend their dosh inside Timor-Leste – driving economic development. However, increasingly the buyers are also coming from Indonesia.
In the coming weeks it seems that PDT matchmaking staff in Dili, Manatuto and Bobonaro are about to close a deal worth up to $2.1 million. A couple of months ago, a buyer in West Timor approached a Bobonaro cattle dealer looking for 3,000 head of cattle to purchase for shipment to Java, Indonesia. The Bobonaro dealer checked with his usual suppliers but found that at present local stocks could not meet such demand. What did he do? He called Domingas dos Santos, PDT Representative in Bobonaro.
Now Domingas is a woman with a head on her shoulders. She was also a Regional Commissioner of the important CAVR reconciliation commission in Bobonaro district some years ago. Being a smart woman she sensed a big opportunity, as cattle range in price from $250-700 depending on size/quality. So she called PDT staff in several other districts and explained to them that she had big cattle buyer looking around. They then did what they are paid to do. They zipped up and down the length of the districts in which they work seeking suppliers for this buyer. It being their home districts they know how to find stuff/people/cattle. In the end they found suppliers in Manatuto (and a few in Viqueque and Lautem) that can fill the order. When the deal eventually goes ahead it could very well be one of the biggest cross border cattle deals in the last decade. Just last night we found out that the sale might actually be as high as $3.1 million, as the buyer seems to be considering a a larger purchase than planned of up to 4,700 head of cattle.
In rural districts where many people live on less than a dollar a day, this is a very significant. For some it will be the difference between a good and a bad year. All because of a small, but critical, little PDT network of business matchmakers.
The brain trust behind the matchmaking team are Ilidio Ximenes and Brigida Soares.
Unfortunately, it looks like these services will soon be coming to an end.
Tags : bobonaro cattle Dili manatuto matchmaking Timor-Leste
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