Devine Management Services Limited is a small medium enterprise that promotes sustainable livelihood and owner, Dorothy Luana has gone from being an informal market meri to a commercial business woman as her Roasted Galip business has moved from the East New Britain and Port Moresby into bigger markets over the past 9 years.
Dorothy and her family are from the East New Britain Province and are operating their business from within the province.
According to Mrs. Luana, the family had bought a block of land at Warongoi 18-years ago and at the time they had decided to be a part of the NARI Trial to plant Galip trees.
They had then received and planted 400 seedlings, a program that was sponsored by the European Union.
About 12 years later, the galip trees were ready to be harvested and sold.
Mrs. Luana stated that the galip nut were popular in Rabaul and Kokopo Markets and she wanted to expose her product so she decided to find a market outside where the galip nut would be in more demand whilst experimenting on the nut and its flavor in cakes and cookies.
“My daughter and I learnt to bake cakes and cookies with the galip nuts for sales as well as the packed roasted galip nuts.”
Luana stated that she aimed to commercialize her product and came to Port Moresby to sell at the Pom City Markets for a wider market exposure.
“We decided to ship a container full of galip nut to the city for sales at Pom City Markets and it was there that we worked out how to process the nuts and essentially after a few trials, started selling in small packets.”
She told PNG HAUSBUNG that a buyer had approached her at her stall during the Pom City Markets and had offered to buy in bulk.
According to Mrs. Luana, these people had loved the galip nuts and offered to meet with her to give their suggestions and feedback on the product.
“We had to improve our product in certain areas so they we could sell it to these buyers and others and we also had to figuring out a way to bring the products across cause shipping it was costly.”
She revealed that after that meeting, the buyer bought 1,500 Galip nut packets and it has been nine years since this happened.
Now Mrs. Luana has buyers across the country that include the City Pharmacy Limited (CPL) group which sell products at the Roasted Galip Nuts at all the Stop N Shop Outlets in the city.
The DMS business had gone from selling on the street to a commercialized business that had started off from the family just wanting to make an income and registered 500 resource owners to help grassroots.
These are galip farmers also that they buy from.
Her family had to figure out a way to keep up with orders.
Luana said that they had saved a lot of money by using her daughter’s digital skills to come up with design graphics and a logo for the company.
They had worked hard to find innovative ideas for packaging skills until they had come up with the recent packaging.
“We are very grateful that we had invested time and effort into this business. We took it in a stride because we saw a vision and we put effort into it and we have come this far.”
She had started her business with one oven that she used to bake cakes and cookies and now has three commercial ovens.
With the power problems the country is facing, they decided to install solar power for lights and a gas oven for stand-by, all of which they had fundraised for.
“I’m so grateful for Pom residents for buying and supporting our Galip Business. You can find roasted galips in Stop and Shop stores as well as at the CHM duty free shop in the international departure lounge.”
Apart from her growing business, Mrs. Luana also went out to the communities and has held manual trainings and awareness not only on the galip nut and its market benefits.
She is said to have built a good relationship with other galip suppliers as her objective was to create a platform for resource owners to appreciate their potential and work together to raise income for their families as well.
“They have to know that business is a lot more than just buying and selling for successful development.”
She has successfully registered the PMG Galip Club Association and has up to 500 resource owners registered under the association.
Meanwhile Mrs. Luana’s Roasted Galip Business has seen local markets as well as international markets as she was showcasing the unique flavors of the Roasted Galip nuts to the world at Fine Food Australia, Australia’s premier trade food event on the 11 – 14 September 2023 at the ICC in Sydney.