Project News

As introduced in the last Project News, several Ulos weavers and tailors in Samosir have formed a joint business group to produce and sell Ulos-applied handicrafts. Its product sales have been steadily increasing since its establishment. However, its current production capacity is not sufficient to maintain the stable product supply. The low production capacity stems mainly from the small number of the group members.

Under this circumstance, Dinas Industry and Trade of the Samosir District, Dinas Industry and Trade of the North Sumatra Province, and Directorate General of Small and Medium Industries of the Ministry of Industry held three training programs (one training program each) on development of Ulos-applied apparel/ handicrafts in October and November 2014. A total of 40 weavers and tailors participated in these three training programs. A leader of the joint business group took these opportunities to encourage the participants to join the group by introducing its activities, its sales performance, and benefit by becoming members. Currently, the discussion is under way with the identified candidates for the new membership.

Maintaining sufficient production capacity with reacting properly to customers' needs is indispensable for the joint business group to continue its own business stably and sustainably. And taking into consideration that there are activities and support measures that couldn't be undertaken or provided without the sufficient membership and production capacity, enlarging membership of the business group is supposed to be of importance. It is highly expected that the training programs will contribute largely to expansion of the group membership and strengthening of its production capacity.

Training scene

Evaluation session for trial products