PDT wins Skoll Award

We have great news. PDT has been awarded one of the 2010 Skoll Awards!

Jeff Skoll, the founder of eBay, created the Skoll Foundation to drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting and celebrating innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems.  Every year they choose a handful of organizations to receive the  prestigious Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship.  Winners are selected based on their track-record for success and their potential for large-scale influence on critical challenges of our time.

PDT was selected based on the impact of our procurement marketplace projects in places like Timor-Leste and Afghanistan, and on our potential to drive change and innovation in the wider peace operations aid industry.  Winning this award is a huge endorsement, but more importantly it will help us expand our operations and our ability to find and test new ideas for improving the nuts and bolts of peace and humanitarian missions.

Our thanks to our donors, and partners - both national and international.

Scott Gilmore
Executive Director
Peace Dividend Trust

Timor's Future. Buy Local - Build Their Future

Buy Local Build Timor-Leste at Nicolau Lobato Airport - Dili, Timor-Leste

PDT Supports Development of a Timorese Venture into Wood/Stone Carving.

On 12-13 December 2009 PDT faciliated a visit by the owner of Dili based Baniuaga Furniture makers to master carvers in Mas and Singakerta in central Bali.  Baniuaga has an interest in developing its employee skills in wood and stone carving.  Baniuaga believes that quality wood and stone carvings with Timorese motifs will be a welcome, complimentary and profitable addition to its existing line of furniture products.

You can contact Baniuaga through its website here, or via its unique business profile on BuildingMarkets.org, at this link here.

Featured Business - Energia Bio-Briquette

Founded by the Haburas Foundation in 2009, Energia Bio-Briquette directly responds to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ recommendation that trees not be cut down and used for cooking fires in an innovative way. In addition to the construction of stoves,  6 local men from the Haburas Foundation that operate Energia Bio-Briquette produce briquettes from recycled materials that can be used as fuel for cooking fires.

Although the business currently operates on a small scale, it is looking for new ways to develop a distribution network, engage the community and promote its bio-friendly products. Haburas also provides training to the local community and members of the cooperatives, teaching how to construct the stoves and briquettes, as well as helping to develop new methods to improve the quality of their products.

Featured Business - Flower Rosas Batik

Miss Maria Purificacao was a married woman with four children working for the National University of Timor Lorosa’e. To compensate for her limited salary, Ms. Purificacao had the innovative idea to turn her hobby (gardening) into a private enterprise. As a result, Flower Rosas Batik was founded in 1999 and now employs 7 local males.

Through her company, Ms. Purifcacao has gained recognition from the local community, government, and even flower sellers abroad. In 2007, she began importing flowers from Indonesia through her connections and linkages with an Indonesian cooperative; they are now formulating a plan to establish a joint-venture. This year, she was approached by the Secretary of State for Vocation Training and Employment to help raise the local capacity in gardening services. The number of trainees fluctuates anywhere from 10 to 25 people.

PDT’s local procurement database, BuildingMarkets.org, has already brought Flower Rosas Batik extra attention; 10 December 2009, 7 Indonesian travelers (2 government officials and 5 businessmen) visited Ms. Purificacao’s business inquiring how she raises her flowers, constructs the vases, and supplements the soil.

Timor Business Overview Word Cloud

To check out the full report click here.

Featured Business - Carpintaria Citra Mandiri, Ermera

On 19 November 2009 PDT's Business Verification Team discovered a new business named Carpintaria Citra Mandiri (Profile found here) in Ermera district.  Recently established this business owned by Ms. Leonica Trindade and makes a range of furniture products.

Baptista Da Silva of PDT takes information from Ms. Trindade, owner of Carpintaria Citra Mandiri

An Indonesian craftsman assiting in training Timorese staff. 

Interestingly this business has started a new development program in partnership with the Ministry of Economy and Development, providing carpentry training to local youths interested in the trade. The Ministry has allocated Ms. Leoncia support funds to build a training facility which upon its completion will provide a training ground for their 10 current apprentices. Currently, in addition to the trainees, the enterprise employs 5 national workers, one of which is female, and 5 international males.

$18,750 of Viqueque Soybeans

In September 2009  PDT's Micromatchmaking (M3) Team in Viqueque District in eastern Timor-Leste were influential in assisting a local farmer make a large business transaction for much of his soybean crop.

PDT M3 staff Vasco M Ferreira and Antonio do Rosario assisted Mr. Alcino Soares in locating a buyer named Venancio Sequeira for his soybeans.  After making the connection between buyer and supplier 25 tonnes of soybeans worth $18,750 were purchased in Luka Viqueque for sale in Dili.  Mr. Sequeira is a middle man, buying from farmers and selling to wholesalers in Dili.  Mr. Sequeira is exploring the development of a customer base in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Viqueque Snake Fruit - Salak Midar Teb-Tebes

Interested in buying some Snake Fruit fruit?

This fruit, often known by its Indonesian name Salak, comes in both sour and sweet varieties. The Business Verification and Micro Matchmaking Teams have located the Bairo Zalacca business in Viqueque which sells Salak in addition to a range of seedlings and other agricultural products.

According to PDT staff in the field, this Salak is of the sweet variety.  Contact Bairo Zalacca or PDT at timor-leste[at]pdtglobal.org for more details.

Musing on New Funding

PDT's Edward Rees is tired after a 1 week long, but very necessary, and valuable, AusAID Evaluation.

Timorese Cattle - a domestic product for an international market.

Peace Dividend Trust's (PDT) Micro Matchmaking (M3) rural business development and facilitation team has been working on facilitating the sale of Timorese cattle to Indonesian buyers for nearly two years.  This is a business activity which has a long history over the past decades as Indonesian appetites for "beef on the hoof" have expanded with its population growth.  However recent events have broken down communication links both inside and outside the country.  PDT is working hard to restore these links and promote business across the rural districts of Timor-Leste.  An increase in business correlates to job creation and wealth generation.

Since 2008 PDT has been assisting the owner of Suai based RAFLIMA (Tafara) Cattle, Mr. Rosito Manek, to source cattle for an Atambua (West Timor, Indonesia) based buyer  (Alowisius Lay, owner of UD Pratama in Atambua).  PDT has also been assisting in sourcing cattle from Mr. Casmiro Fernando, a Bobonaro supplier.  To view RAFLIMA's BuildingMarkets.org profile click here.

PDT Cova Lima has facilitated the sale of 680 head of cattle from local ranchers to Mr. Manek with an estimated value of $185,150. Mr. Manek then exports the cattle to UD Pratama in Indonesia. This month (November 2009), Mr. Manek has 300 more cows available to sell to Atambua, but is awaiting a new license to export from the government of Timor-Leste.

Meanwhile PDT Bobonaro has facilitated the sale of 350 head of cattle from local ranchers to Mr. Fernando with an estimated value of $70,955. Mr. Fernando then exports the cattle to UD Pratama in Atambua.  See below for Bobonaro cattle ready for sale.

Mr. Manek and Mr. Fernando were already exporting cows to Atambua but wanted to export on a larger scale. PDT M3 teams in Covalima and Bobonaro assisted the two middlemen in locating and purchasing cattle across their respective districts, resulting in a marked increase in sales and a cash injection into rural Timor-Leste.

RAFLIMA has a website as well - 

For more information contact Ilidio da Costa Ximenes via iximenes[at]pdtglobal.org or timor-leste[at]pdtglobal.org

PDT Micro Matching activities are funded by AusAID and Eni.

Timor Business

Slick new page for Timor-Leste Business Overview.

UNMIT Procurement Plans: $54 million USD in 2009 and 2010

The United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) Procurement Acquisition Plan is now public and online.

This Acquisition Plan details how UNMIT intends to purchase over 55 million USD in goods and services in Timor-Leste. You can download a pdf copy here.

if you are interested in competing for any of the tenders for provision of these goods and services you need to register with the United Nations Procurement Division Supplier Database.  The instructions (in English only) are found this website.

More assistance can be reached via here:

Peace Dividend Trust Launches a Report on the Nuts and Bolts of Businesses in Timor-Leste.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dili, Timor-Leste, 16 November 2009

This Timor-Leste Business Community Overview is Part One of a two part series.  The report is intended to provide a general overview of the private sector in Timor-Leste and the findings are intended to improve both knowledge of and access to domestic businesses.  Part Two will examine the national job landscape.

The assessments in this report are derived from the database of businesses developed by Peace Dividend Trust (PDT) and its Peace Dividend Marketplace Timor-Leste (PDM-TL) project. This database was funded by AusAID and the Government of Norway and built in partnership with the Timor-Leste Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry (MTCI).

The project is designed to  1) increase the capacity of the private sector 2) create jobs and 3) generate wealth by connecting individual and institutional buyers and the domestic private sector in Timor-Leste.  For more information about the project please see the PDT website here.

PDM-TL staff collected the information profiled in this report between 1 November 2007 and 30 September 2009.  During this period, a total of 2,384 businesses were surveyed.  Individual profiles of each business can be found on the PDM-TL Online Procurement Database located at BuildingMarkets.org

To download the report click here or visit PDT's webpage to access the report.

In the report you will find out information relating to:

1. The geographic distribution of businesses across all 13 districts of Timor-Leste.
2. The types of business activity pursued by the domestic private sector.
3. The "age" of the business community.
4. The size of the surveyed businesses.
5. The communications systems used by businesses.
6. The ownership and management of businesses.
7. And much more.....

If you are a business owner/manager in Timor-Leste and you find that your business is not listed, along with the other 2,400 businesses, on the PDM-TL Online Procurement Database located at BuildingMarkets.org please contact PDT via timor-leste[at]pdtglobal.org to get a unique online business profile and increase your visibility and access to buyers both inside and outside Timor-Leste.

Tetun Version

ATU PUBLIKA LALAIS

Dili, Timor-Leste, 16 Novembru 2009

Pérfil Komunidade Negósiu Timor-Leste nian ida-ne’e nu’udár Parte Ida husi série ida ne’ebé fahe ba parte rua.  Relatóriu ne’e ho intensaun atu fó informasaun jerál ida kona-bá sektór privadu iha Timor-Leste no rezultadu sira-ne’e ho intensaun atu hadi’a koñesimentu kona-bá no mós asesu ba iha negósiu doméstika sira. Parte Rua nian sei ezamina kona-bá senáriu serbisu nasionál nian.

Avaliasaun sira ne’ebé iha relatóriu ida-ne’e nia laran foti husi baze de dadus kona-bá negósiu sira ne’ebé dezenvolve husi Peace Dividend Trust (PDT) no mós ninia projetu Merkadu Peace Dividend Timor-Leste (Peace Dividend Marketplace Timor-Leste (PDM-TL)). Baze de dadus ida-ne’e finansia husi AusAID no Governu Norvega nian no estabelese parseria ho Timor-Leste nia Ministériu Turizmu, Komérsiu no Indústria (MTCI). 

Projetu ne’e dezeña atu 1) aumenta kapasidade sektór privadu nian 2) kria serbisu sira no 3) prodúz rikeza hodi halo ligasaun entre sosa-nain individuál no institusionál sira ho sektór privadu doméstika sira iha Timor-Leste. Atu hetan informasaun liután kona-bá projetu ne’e favór haree website PDT nian iha ne’e.

Pesoál PDM-TL nian halibur informasaun sira ne’ebé aprezenta ona iha relatóriu ida-ne’e nia laran entre loron 1 Novembru 2007 no 30 Setembru 2009. Durante períodu ida-ne’e, iha totál negósiu hamutuk 2,384 mak pekiza ona. Bele hetan pérfil individuál husi negósiu sira-ne’e ida-idak  iha PDM-TL nia Baze de Dadus Aprovizionamentu Online nian ne’ebé bele haree iha BuildingMarkets.org

Atu download relatóriu ne’e klik iha ne’e ka bele vizita  PDT nia pájinaweb nian atu bele asesu ba relatóriu ne’e.

Iha relatóriu ne’e nia laran ita boot sira bele hetan informasaun kona-bá:

1.     Distribuisaun jeográfiku husi negósiu sira iha Timor-Leste nia distritu 13 hotu.

2.     Tipu husi atividade negósiu nian sira ne’ebé hala’o husi sektór privadu doméstika nian sira.

3.     "Idade" husi komunidade negósiu nian.

4.     Númeru husi negósiu sira ne’ebé peskiza ona.

5.     Sistema komunikasaun nian sira ne’ebé negósiu sira-ne’e uza.

6.     Propriedade no jestaun ba negósiu sira.

7.     No barak liután.....

Se karik ita boot nu’udár na’in/jerente husi negósiu ida iha Timor-Leste no ita boot haree katak ita boot nia negósiu seidauk tama iha lista, hamutuk ho negósiu 2,400 sira seluk, iha PSM-TL nia Baze de Dadus Aprovizionamentu Online nian ne’ebé bele haree iha BuildingMarkets.org favór kontaktu PDT liuhusi timor-leste[at]pdtglobal.org atu hetan pérfil online negósiu nian ida ne’ebé úniku no aumenta.

PDT Timor-Leste and its Growing Web Presence.

A. The Timor-Leste Online Procurement Database (soon to be known as Timor-Leste Business Portal)

www.buy-in-timor.org

Between its launch on 20 May 2008 and 5 November 2009 (17 months) this website has had 73,144 hits (or unique pageviews) which have occurred as a result of 13,949 visits conducted by 5,623 unique visitors.  The vast majority of visits are performed by persons in 1) Timor-Leste 2) Australia 3) Indonesia and  4) Singapore.

B. The Timor-Leste Jobs Blog

http://serbisu-buylocaltimorleste.blogspot.com

Between its launch on 10 October 2008 and 5 November 2009 (13 months) this website has had 141,611 hits (or unique pageviews) which have occurred as a result of 6,447 visits conducted by 9,755 unique visitors.  The vast majority of visits are performed by persons in 1) Timor-Leste and 2) Indonesia.

C. The Timor-Leste Tenders Blog

http://tender-buylocaltimorleste.blogspot.com

Between its launch on 10 October 2008 and 5 November 2009 (13 months) this website has had 18,380 hits (or unique pageviews) which have occurred as a result of 39,288 visits conducted by 2,821 unique visitors.  The vast majority of visits are performed by persons in 1) Timor-Leste, 2) Australia, 3) Hong Kong, 4) United States, and 5) Indonesia.

D. The PDM-TL Project Blog

http://buylocaltimorleste.blogspot.com/

Between its launch on 10 October 2008 and 5 November 2009 (13 months) this website has had 10,253 hits (or unique pageviews) which have occurred as a result of 5,896 visits conducted by 3,879 unique visitors.  The vast majority of visits are performed by persons in 1) Timor-Leste, 2) Australia, 3) Hong Kong, 4) United States, 5) Singapore and 6) Indonesia.

E. The Timor-Leste Accommodation Blog

http://aluga-uma-timor.blogspot.com/

Between its launch on 10 October 2008 and 5 November 2009 (13 months) this website has had 8,669 hits (or unique pageviews) which have occurred as a result of 3,546 visits conducted by 2,109 unique visitors.  The vast majority of visits are performed by persons in 1) Timor-Leste, 2) Australia, 3) Hong Kong, 4) United States, 5) Singapore and 6) Indonesia.

Atauro Day - A Chance to Support Local Commerce

Journey over to Atauro Island on Saturday the 14th of November to partake in "Atauro Day", an opportunity to appreciate and celebrate the local culture, as well as to help build the island's budding tourism market. The event provides members of the local community a chance to join together to promote the island and advertise their local wares. In attendance will be President Ramos-Horta, who noted that the day, "is a magnificent event as you get the best of both worlds - you are helping to support rural livelihoods while experiencing the fantastic natural environment of Timor-Leste."

This event is held on the second Saturday of every month during dry season. For more information, click on the press release below. To check out a current list of businesses on Atauro Island, search BuildingMarkets.org, a procurement database run by Peace Dividend Trust.

Tempo Semanal Publishes PDT SMS Story

On the 3rd of November, Tempo Semanal published a Tetun translation of Sara Moreira's article describing PDT's (Peace Dividend Trust) unique usage of SMS messaging to promote local procurement in post-conflict countries. Mobile technology is proving to be a reliable, feasible method for disseminating information to even the most rural communities of Timor-Leste. To view the translation, click on the images below. To see the article in its original form, click here.

Atauro's Manu-Koko Makes the Cover of the Jakarta Globe!

In April 2008, Peace Dividend Trust assisted Antonio Saldanha a wood carver from Atauro in setting a web platform via blogger.com in order to be able to market his carvings. This site for his firm Manu-Koko can be found here.

Showing the power of the internet this site assisted in launching Manu Koko onto the front cover of the Jakarta Globe, rebellious challenger to the Jakarta Post's position of leading English language media in Indonesia. 

See below for the front page and the story in which Manu-Koko's photo is prominently displayed.

You can read all about Manu-Koko on Peace Dividend Trust's Building Markets Business Portal via this link, where you will also find details about 2,500 other businesses and their goods and services in Timor-Leste.