Cikeusal Kecamatan, Banten Province, Indonesia, November 2007 - Ever found yourself at loose ends looking for a late night hangout in rural Banten? The answer is to head on down to Warung Ibu Mini, Kecamatan Cikeusal’s first 24-hour watering hole and one-stop market. Warung Ibu Mini began with a small loan from the Kecamatan Development Project (KDP), a Government of Indonesia program. KDP is a key component of the Government’s flagship National Program for Community Empowerment or Program Nastional Pemberdayaan Masyarakat (PNPM) to accelerate poverty reduction. KDP and PNPM are supported by the Government, World Bank and other bilateral donors. | I used to sell snacks for schoolchildren, but now, thanks be to God, with the loan from KDP, I can have this warung and our family is more prosperous.” - Ibu Mini |
Its 1:00am at WarungIbu Mini. Glasses of instant CoffeeMix stand half-drunk against the evening’s chill. Hungry patrons eat plates of nasi uduk and fried chicken. Others sit crossed legged or sprawled across bamboo platforms, chatting or playing chess as smoke from their cigarettes drifts by. Earlier, a little girl begged her mother for a shiny pink package of snacks and walked away happily crunching while her mother carried home mosquito repellent and eggs. Ibu Mini is, ironically, a woman of ample proportion; she points this out as she serves more coffee and a soft-drink, laughing as though it’s the first time she’s made this joke. She has an easy-going air about her, is quick to laugh or make others laugh. Her husband is a quieter man who sits among the customers, chatting with them while smoking and drinking coffee. Ibu Mini is about to start cooking another round of nasi uduk—she has a 2am rush when all the farmers who went to the Tangerang market to sell their vegetables return home to Cikeusal and stop in for a bite to eat. Ibu Mini’s good-natured personality belies she and her husband’s grueling days and intermittent sleep patterns. The greater share of their business comes between 9pm and 9am. Patrons begin trickling in at 9pm and by midnight the warung is packed. The farmers arrive around 2am, then around 5, Ibu Mini goes to the Cikeusal market for the warung, buying ingredients for cooking as well as fresh vegetables to sell to the neighbors. After selling vegetables in the morning and starting the afternoon cooking, Ibu Mini grabs a few hours sleep, then rises to attend to the warung again. Late afternoon may see her napping on the warung’s benches while her high school aged daughter minds the shop. As night falls, she and her husband prepare to do it all again. | Customers enjoying nasi uduk and drinking coffee one evening at Warung Ibu Mini, Cikeusal. |
Before owning her warung, Ibu Mini sold fried food door-to-door. “Before I was selling snacks to school children—fried tofu, fried bananas,” she explains. “I made about Rp.30,000–40,000 a day. That’s not a lot, is it?” (Approximately US$3.29–4.39) Ibu Mini began her warung business in 2005 with a Rp.200,000 loan. Now, along with food and drinks, Ibu Mini sells grocery items including vegetables straight from the fields, noodles, shampoo, soap, and other needs. She cooks nasi uduk and other home-style dishes twice a day in her house across the street. She also has a small catering business for meetings and lunches. Her present loan from KDP is Rp.1,000,000 (US$109). Thanks to her distinctive business strategy, Ibu Mini’s warung has become a well-known spot, one not to be confused with the scores of similar businesses dotting the area. She and her husband work the warung in turns, sometimes together. Her daily take since her latest loan has risen to between Rp. 350,000–500,000. | Ibu Mini at the warung one afternoon. Her first loan was only Rp.200,000. Now she is waiting for a Rp. 3,000,000 loan. Her income has increased 10 fold and allowed her two eldest children to attend high school. |
Despite her success, money is tight. Ibu Mini has three children, and, in an exercise of jaw-dropping willpower given their former financial means, all are in school. The eldest two are now in high school, an achievement rarely seen in rural Indonesia. High school education in Indonesia doesn’t come cheap: her second daughter’s high school enrollment fee was a staggering Rp.1,600,000 (US$178). The other two children pay cheaper re-enrollment fees but all require books, uniforms, and supplies. Ibu Mini has an eye on business expansion. In the future Warung Ibu Mini will sell Indonesia’s nine basic foodstuffs, among them such staples as rice, sugar, and cooking oil. She also plans to expand her range of cigarettes, which, while morally questionable, are highly profitable. In July 2007, around the same time the new school year began, a tornado flattened Warung Ibu Mini. Most of their money went into reconstructing and restocking the warung, feeding the family of 5, and keeping up repayments on her loan—she repaid on time and in full. They have only just finished rebuilding. Ibu Mini looks around and sniffs; they had to use cheap materials to rebuild after the storm and she is still not satisfied with the results. After her next infusion of capital from KDP, she will make improvements. |
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