Innovative business

Jaime Lemos’s innovative chicken business

Age is no barrier to starting an innovative new business. At the age of 60, Jaime Lemos C. Moris founded and opened a kampong chicken business in the Lautem district, Timor-Leste, called Copanhia Panirasa Dinaste Lda.

Feature | 08 April 2016
Jaime Lemos C. Moris adds product labels and expiration dates on the packaging
Age is no barrier to starting an innovative new business. At the age of 60, Jaime Lemos C. Moris founded and opened a kampong chicken business in the Lautem district, Timor-Leste, called Copanhia Panirasa Dinaste Lda. He was inspired by village women who travel far from their homes to sell their chicken at the market. The women told Jaime Lemos that they raise kampong chicken to support their families financially.

Kampong chicken is a term referring to indigenous chickens raised using traditional techniques in the villages, and represent an important source of meat and eggs for villagers in some Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Timor-Leste.

“When they told me that every household in the village breeds chickens, it gave me an idea how to help them sell the chickens and fulfil customers’ needs for local chicken meat,” said the father of eight children, sharing the inspiration for his business, which he started in 2014.

When looking for ways to start his business and get capital, Jaime Lemos came across an announcement regarding the 2014 Innovative Business Plan Competition conducted by the Institute (IADE) under the Economic Affairs. He immediately registered as a participant.

I thank the IADE for providing me with business assistance in the form of business advice and promotion, including building a network with buyers and breeders."

Jaime Lemos C. Moris
The initiative is also backed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) through its Business Opportunities and Support Services (BOSS) Project, which supports enterprises to build sustainable jobs and income in this small, post-conflict nation. Jointly funded by Irish Aid and NZAID, the ILO-BOSS project works in partnership with IADE to deliver business development services to micro, small and medium enterprises, unlock business opportunities by developing functional value chains in specific sectors and promote better coordination and alignment of private sector initiatives.

Although he did not win the competition, his business idea was selected as one of the top 10, and he later applied to and was accepted into the IADE’s Business Incubation Facility (BIF) programme. The programme provides comprehensive business assistance in the form of business management advice, technical training, business promotion and limited investment for up to two years.

In addition, IADE also connected Jamie Lemos to the Village Livestock Workers to ensure the health of the poultry.

“I thank the IADE for providing me with business assistance in the form of business advice and promotion, including building a network with buyers and breeders,” he said.

The funding assistance he received was used as the initial capital to open the business in his home, and to buy the equipment needed and a freezer. We should explain his business: he buys local chicken from the communities, processes, freezes and transports to shops and markets in Lautem and to Dili Supermarkets

“Then, I used my savings as additional capital to buy chickens from local communities and market them throughout Lautem,” he said, adding that his chicken business receives kampong chicken from seven groups of chicken breeders, of which each group consists of five to 10 breeders.

To ensure the chicken’s quality and hygiene, Jamie Lemos adds a product label indicating production and expiration dates.

“One of the supermarkets reminded me about the importance of production and expiry labels. My chicken can last for three months and is usually sold out before that,” he said proudly.

To support the production process, the entrepreneur, who was born into a farming family, now employs four workers for chicken slaughtering and cleaning, as those roles are still performed manually.

“I employ out of school youth as an effort to open up more jobs for them. Currently, I have ordered a chicken cleaning machine to accelerate the production process, so that I can employ more workers,” said Jaime Lemos, who was born and raised in a small village in Lautem.

To date, Jamie Lemos sells around 150 chickens per month in the US$7-US$13 price range, depending on the weight, providing a stable income for both his family and the surrounding communities.

The article was written by Camilo Santos and Brandolindo R. Fatima, staff of the Institute for Business Support (IADE) under the Minister of State, Coordinator of Economic Affairs (MECAE) of Timor-Leste