Australian High Commission
Papua New Guinea

Stella driving business in Central Bougainville

Like many Bougainvilleans growing up in the 90s, 41-year-old Stella Tunim was a young teenager during the Bougainville Crisis. Her family was forced to flee to the mountains causing major disruptions to her home life and education.

Despite this early adversity, Stella has since become a leading business woman in Bougainville and an advocate for the economic development of her homeland.

Stella says it was her love of reading and study in Australia that helped her overcome gaps in her education and strive for success.

“What helped me was I usually carried around books. I would read books and the dictionary. So when I returned to school from grade eight, after missing six years of my education, I did really well.”

Her excellent results helped her to study a Bachelor of Business in banking and finance at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.

“It was the learning of the culture while in Australia that gave me the drive to come back and help my own people,” reflects Stella.

Originally from Vito village in the Toro Constituency of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Stella now lives in Arawa with her husband and two daughters. She is an active business woman, running a number of local companies, and secretary of the Central Bougainville Business Association.

Established around 15 years ago, the association recently received support from the Australian Government to enhance the business environment in Bougainville and to strengthen the local economy. Stella has been instrumental in setting up the association with volunteer office bearers and a strong member-base.

“Since it was established, it never really took off. I got the association formally registered and started getting the members together and paying fees so that we could run the office,” recalls Stella.

“We now have about 60 registered members with about 20 per cent women, of the around 100 businesses in Arawa. Businesses range from the small tucker box type that are run from the street, to the middle size being retail shops, and the big ones being wholesalers, supermarkets and larger hardware stores.”

“The association’s main drive is to give Bougainvilleans the opportunity to capitalise on their business situations and opportunities, and for them to get involved, rather than have other people coming in and operating businesses.”

The growth of local business and income generation in Bougainville is vital to the future of the region. In addition to creating employment, the collection of taxes from businesses and employees is needed to fund the delivery of government services.

Australia has helped to connect the association with the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG), which now consults with members on policy decisions.

“Once we started getting assistance from Australia, we then began to open up and understand the establishment of the business associations. Then there was that opportunity for businesses to have a say and a link to government,” said Stella.

With the association’s constitution and office bearer roles now in place, Stella says one of the main priorities is building trade connections outside the region and providing ongoing training to members.

“Most of the business owners in Central Bougainville are learning through experience. Most of them didn’t really graduate or go beyond high school due to the Crisis, and many hail from villages and have never lived in towns. That has been one of our biggest challenges,” explains Stella.

“Because of the low literacy level, there are challenges in understanding basic business skills. Businesses not incorporating these practices are getting left behind. But we have continuous education through the association – how to do banking, bookkeeping and the basic requirements as per the tax office or the investment promotion office.”

As a local business owner, Stella is passionate about grassroots development and the inclusion of women. She manages Apscu Development Association which provides microfinance services for local rural development and economic projects, such as livestock, sewing and baking.

She also runs Prime International, a consultancy providing reviews of non-governmental organisation financials and project proposals, and is the chair of a community cocoa group – Nimani Farmers Cooperative Society – in her hometown of Vito.

In 2016, Stella successfully applied for grant funding to develop the cocoa cooperative. The grants are an initiative of the Autonomous Bougainville Government in partnership with the Governments of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand to develop the commodity sector in Bougainville.

Three years on, the cocoa cooperative has proved to not only be a source of economic development and income-generation for the village, but also brought the community closer together.

“We have successfully completed over 50 per cent of the activities. Seedlings and tools have been distributed and the office building is now being built using the third grant payment. As soon as we finish the office building, we are going to build a solar combination cocoa drier on land near the beach,” said Stella.

“Not only has the grant helped us with economic development, but with peace building as well. During the crisis there were problems with clans and families that we hadn’t really reconciled, but through these projects we have no choice but to work together. We didn’t need reconciliation; the reconciliation was the cocoa project.”

The cooperative’s success was recently recognised at the Asia Pacific Business Forum held in Port Moresby in June, with Stella invited to speak as part of a panel discussion on sustainable agriculture.

Despite the international recognition, Stella is most proud of how the project has empowered and improved the welfare of families in her village, especially women, who she says “have built some form of confidence and are able to participate in things that they weren’t able to before.”

For further information, including access to related materials, please contact the Australian High Commission media team: +675 7090 0100

 

 

Stella Tumin is secretary of the Central Bougainville Business Association support by the Australian Government. Stella also chairs the Nimani Farmers Cooperative Society in her village of Vito.