GIVE Project: Promote Balinese Exports in the United States

I've just met with the International Finance Corporations, a branch of the World Bank, leading a four-year project called Pensa –Pengembangan Usaha (http://www.ifc.org/pensa), which seeks to improve the prospects of the Balinese handicraft industry.

Their idea is to help Balinese handicraft manufacturers run their businesses more effectively. They are working to several handicraft aggregators, "middlemen" businesses that pool together small, individual village artisans to leverage their potential to reach larger international buyers.

IFC has asked GIVE to promote this initiative within the U.S. via our Marketers Without Borders program (http://giveindonesia.org/marketerswithoutborders.htm).

The idea is to target key industries of potential buyers, using GIVE's model of supporting entrepreneurial projects with professional marketing and business consulting services. GIVE will help IFC gain media attention and reach out to their handicraft clients' best prospects.

Carl Deganhaart, IFC's director in Bali, is hopeful that the project will enable otherwise limited individual artists now dependent on sales solely from individual tourists to reach a larger market in the United States and Europe.

"IFC functions as a quality control intermediary who can help the industry get organized, improve overall standards and open up new global markets for exported Balinese handicrafts."

The real competitive advantage of Balinese handicrafts is their source of origin. Bali is able to compete with other countries on prices, but unlike more material handicraft industries elsewhere Indonesian attention to quality and consistancy needs improvement. This is not a factory driven, mass production model.

Balinese handicrafts have the personality and quirkiness of the artist that produced them. But to compete in the global market, Bali needs to integrate a more professional attention to details of filling orders based on buyer specifications, which means attention to systems, procedures and quality control.

"Bali has a real opportunity to compete on a higher quality level than goods produced in Thailand and China," explains Deganhart. "Bali has something special to offer the world that can't be found anywhere else. The challenge is to help the handicraft industry operate on first world standards while preserving, and ultimately marketing, the soul of these products, which is so appealing to consumers."

IFC has two primary programs:

Market Linkages. This program works with 17 promising handicraft aggregator businesses to improve their overall operations, processes, and business practices. Participating businesses are chosen based on overall competency, including adherence to fair labor standards.

After initial assessments, IFC provides free business services, including consultation, management assistance working capital. They help handicraft producers focus on product improvement, merchandising, packaging and other areas.

To date, the program has helped 5 pilot companies generate $255,000USD and create 443 new jobs.

Professional Business Consulting Services. IFC makes available consulting expertise in management, packing, and other business advice that would otherwise be unaffordable to it's pilot participants. They've developed an export information center that assists handicraft businesses on how to improve processes, adhere to Fair Trade (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/) standards, and improve their overall operations.