Nelly juggles family and business

Nelly juggles family and business

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang

It came as a great surprise to 40-year-old Nelly Izmi, when she
received the news that the U.S Agency for International
Development (USAID) was planning to award her for her
entrepreneurial skills.
The Perform Participatory Award was bestowed upon her earlier
this month in recognition of her success in applying the
"participative planning method" to improve regional
competitiveness, particularly in Nagari Panampung, Ampek Angkek
district, Agam regency, West Sumatra, where she started a small
embroidery business 10 years ago.

"I never imagined receiving a award. I have done nothing
special. I think it is just what you have to do as an
entrepreneur," Nelly told The Jakarta Post.

The mother of three daughters, who was born in Panampung, Agam
on May 8, 1964, has been credited with her ability to organize
and manage businesspeople.

Nelly, unlike most women in Ampek Angkek -- which is located
on the outskirts of Bukittinggi -- did not become an embroiderer
straight after high school.

As an undergraduate student of the School of Pedagogy at
Padang Teachers Training College (now Padang State University) in
the mid-80s she was active in the Islamic Dynamics Study Group,
an off-campus organization. Through the group, she became
acquainted with Asma Naim, the wife of Dr. Mochtar Naim (a member
of the People's Consultative Assembly). Asma encouraged her to
become a member of the West Sumatra Islamic Women's Association
executive board, marking the start of her commitment to improving
the welfare of local women.

In addition, thanks to the Naims, she was active in Yayasan
Amal Saleh (YAS), a social organization that channeled tithe and
was involved in various community development projects. Nelly
says she owes her organizational ability to her time with YAS.

Later, Nelly joined the Association for the Development of
Islamic Boarding Schools and the Community (P3M) and was elected
as the assistant coordinator of a program to improve the welfare
of women in Sumatra. The program was implemented in 1987 with the
assistance of a German funding agency.

In 1989, Nelly married Amrijon, now a Bukittinggi municipal
administration official, and took a break from her managerial
duties. Six months after her wedding, she graduated from college
and started teaching at STIT Ahlussunnah, one of several private
universities in Bukittinggi.

She spent the next seven years teaching and taking care of her
family.

"When my youngest daughter was two years old and could be left
alone, I thought I could do something else besides teaching. So,
in 1994, I started an embroidery business, called 'Andari', with
just Rp 2 million as capital," she said, adding that she
initially employed just six people.

She had also toyed with the idea of being a chicken farmer but
considered the risks too high. The birds could easily contract a
disease, for example.

Eight districts in Agam regency, all located near Bukittinggi,
including Ampak Angkek, are known as the hub of Sumatra's
embroidery industry. There are some 2,000 small and medium
businesses in the area that employ about 25,000 workers, 95
percent of whom are local women. In Ampak Angkek alone there are
about 200 embroidery businesses.

"As there were quite a lot of embroidery businesses, the
business climate was not so good. There was stiff competition and
workers were often hijacked," she said.

The government, despite its own program to develop small and
medium businesses, could do little to improve the situation.

Nelly decided to act on her own initiative and brought
together 25 embroidery businesspeople in Nagari Panampung. In
1999, the group took the name of KUB-PSBP and she was elected as
its chairwoman.

In April 2000, the group organized a seminar on the
development of the embroidery business. A number of local
officials -- from the Agam regent to village heads -- attended
the seminar.

After the seminar, which was held at a cost of Rp 3 million, a
sum collected from the group's members, all participants were
given a decorative piece of embroidery as a souvenir.

"The souvenirs were a kind of promotion for us. Later, Agam
regency sent our group to represent our regency in a bazaar held
during the National Sports Games (PON) in Surabaya," Nelly said.

In November 2000, the group became a cooperative and again
held a seminar at provincial level. Within a short period of
time, the cooperative -- still led by Nelly, but now boasting 90
members -- developed well and received government recognition.

The cooperative secured a government loan, meaning it could
later give collateral-free loans to its members. In that way, a
number of embroiderers belonging to the cooperative could start
their own embroidery businesses. Problems, however, remained.

"They did produce embroidered works but not all could be sold.
There was market demand but not all the demand could be met. We
had export potential but could not realize it. Besides, we still
had to compete with other villages and districts in recruiting
embroiderers," she said.

Other problems included expensive materials, price competition
with similar products from other regions, for example,
Tasikmalaya, and the preference of some embroiderers to find
employment abroad.

Based on the recommendation of the Agam regental
administration, the cooperative that Nelly led was chosen by
Perform -- in conjunction with USAID's Research Triangle
Institute (RTI) and the home ministry's directorate general of
regional development -- as its partner in a local economic
development program.

"We were really thankful to Perform as it changed the way we
handled our problems. We could solve these problems and make
progress together," she noted.

In 2003, thanks to the program, Nelly brought together a
number of local embroidery businesspeople to set up the Agam
Business Development Center and Training House (BDC & TH) --
again, she was elected its director.

"We are now trying to stop purchasing our materials in
Bukittinggi and will buy them directly from the factories in
Jakarta. That way we can cut our production costs and raise our
production level. Also, we can tap our export potential," she
said.

Today, Nelly is a teacher, a housewife, a cooperative leader
and the director of BDC & TH. She once asked to resign from the
factory but the members of its cooperation told her that they
simply couldn't do without her.