PAPUA – Not all Papuans have the willingness and enthusiasm to trade, especially women who live far inland, in Jayapura City, which is located in the coastal area, it is rare to find women who trade in the usual conditions are Papuan women selling vegetables and tubers in traditional markets, Yuliana Hamongsem dismissed the general view, this woman from Papua broke the view that Papuan women did not have the instinct to trade.
With patience, perseverance, and a willingness to improve socio-economic conditions in 10 years Yuli, as he is called, pioneered a trading business in the interior of Papua and his business location is located in Yakasib Village, Namblong District, Jayapura Regency, This village is located about 80 kilometers northwest of Jayapura City.
Yuli main job is to look after his “Rasa Senasib” stall and this stall was established in 2003, for Yuli initial capital of Rp 500,000 to buy staples and children’s toys. Yuli’s interest in trading began with a visit to Sentani, Jayapura and what she saw in Sentani inspired her with the activities of the migrants, “They opened stalls to trade various basic needs” said Yuli.
The business capital of the migrants was relatively limited and despite this, they were able to maintain their trading business until it grew into a large shop and spread to a number of other business fields, such as transportation and restaurants, “I then thought, if other people can do it, Papuans must also be able to do it and if not us, Papuans themselves, who will help us? Everyone is struggling for their own lives and there is no way they would be willing to give something to Papuans for free because they also work,” said Yuli.
As time went by, Yuli variety of merchandise increased, and among other things bought agricultural products from residents of remote hamlets, from the crops that Yuli bought at a price not much different from the market price, such as dried coconuts bought for IDR 1,000 per fruit and sold again for IDR 1.300 and Yuli also equipped her stall with a number of snacks, such as fried tofu, tempeh, sweet potatoes, and bananas and all the fried foods she cooked herself to save money and guarantee the taste, “I started cooking at 04.00 WITA before the residents of Yakasib Village woke up and even my family members were not awake,” she said.
Not quickly satisfied with the variety of products offered at his stall, Yuli set aside some of the profits for other business capital, in 2007 his business expanded to buying and selling cows and by 2010 he had 30 cows, of which 12 he sold, “I bought cows from residents and the price at that time was IDR 1 million – 2 million per head and we raised the cows, after they were three years old, I sold them at a price of up to Rp 8 million per head,” said Yuli.
One of the keys to the success of his business is the ability to see business opportunities, for example, seeing people’s need for fuel oil, Yuli then sells bottled gasoline at IDR 8,000 per liter because in the area there are many motorbikes, but their owners often have difficulty getting fuel and Yuli gets fuel from Sentani which is about 60 km from his village, “There is a Pertamina tank car that enters the village to deliver kerosene to each base and here the kerosene only lasts 2-3 days, it is bought up by residents because those who live in remote villages already use wick stoves,” he said.
One day at the business place attached to his semi permanent house, Yuli was busy flipping through sun-dried cocoa beans and he had just sold 30 kilograms of dried cocoa to a collector, “This is the money from selling chocolate,” said Yuli, showing the IDR 1.2 million in his hand.
Every day there are collectors who come to him to buy cocoa beans and he sells dry cocoa beans for IDR 14,000 per kg and wet cocoa beans for IDR 7,000 per kg. Yuli buys cocoa beans from people living in remote villages at IDR 13,000 per kg for dry cocoa beans, and he buys wet cocoa beans for IDR 6,000.
The buying and selling of cocoa takes place during the cocoa fruit season, around the beginning of the year, and Yuli initially sold cocoa beans because he wanted to help cocoa farmers in the countryside. Yuli was concerned every time he saw people in the countryside struggling to carry cocoa beans all the way to the paved road, “I buy cocoa from farmers in the countryside so they can go home with money quickly,” said Yuli about the beginning of his cocoa bean business.
