Our first 4 months & where we're going

by Dominique Tan, Mitra BUMMA's Co-CEO

As the year comes to an end, I’m amazed at what Mitra BUMMA has been able to accomplish. Our first quarter focused on building the foundations for the future like finding the right team and partners, putting into practice our values around the indigenous Papuan concept of Noken*, and achieving results through ongoing experimentation, reflection, and practice. 

*Nokens are multifunctional bags woven out of natural materials used by nearly all of Papua Indonesia’s 300+ Indigenous Tribes. Their interwoven and boundless nature inspires Mitra BUMMA’s purpose to center Indigenous Peoples’ wisdom and relationship with nature to respond to the climate crisis. We are part of the broader “Menoken” movement, weaving and strengthening the social fabric for indigenous-led enterprises to thrive.

Mitra BUMMA and partners in front of the Mare forests. From left to right: Eche (Mare member & community partner), Naomi (Mitra BUMMA Papua Project Manager), Dominique (Mitra BUMMA Co-CEO), and Ago (Mare member & Community partner)

Here is a summary of our work by the numbers:

Our Produce Canvassing Business purchases surplus produce from the farmers and sells them in the local and regional markets. Mitra BUMMA’s team provides logistics & supply chain support, access to new markets for the tribe’s smallholder farmers, and business management training and support.

We’ve also hit key milestones toward our ultimate goals (see below). To learn more, check out our Year End Report here.

From Corporate Social Responsibility to Indigenous Ways of Knowing & Being 

Beyond our results-based work, Mitra BUMMA’s biggest differentiators are how we conduct our work and who leads it.

U.S. and western companies have understood that businesses must integrate social and environmental impact into how they conduct their operations for some time. These are all questions that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and Social Enterprises are trying to tackle.

As a former Director of CSR, I understand first-hand the challenges with creating change within this model. Many times, the reality of having a separate department that deals with impact within a company often leads to activities and programming that may not be in sync with that of the rest of the organization. 

This realization is what led me to ultimately take on business operator roles and an interest in how business models can not just be sustainable, but also regenerative. I am more resolute than ever that Mitra BUMMA can provide this new path forward. 

Mitra BUMMA Papua Operations Field Manager, Roki, joining Mr. Ambrosius Waisimon, the Waisimon Iram (tribal head) in a traditional song along the sacred Kali Bob river that separates the agricultural land from the sacred and protected forests

This past October, my team and I had the honor of visiting both of our partner tribes - Namblong and Mare- on an Inception Journey in Papua. The first week was spent in Sentani for AMAN’s 6th Congress, the second was a visit to Namblong and its forests, and the third week was in Mare’s tribal villages. 

We of course had desired outcomes from an operational side, like customary blessings for our partnership to develop BUMMAs (Indigenous-owned Enterprises), establishing economic teams within the tribes to serve as our daily operations partners, and finalizing our 3 month work plans and timelines. 

But this was also a rare opportunity to learn from our tribal partners. It was their occasion to share with us their ways of being and knowing, their priority results, and their expectations of us as their chosen partners. Together, we practiced menoken, an indigenous Papuan concept derived from their sacred Noken bags to achieve our collective objectives. 

Mitra BUMMA's "offices" and "meeting rooms" in Kali Kro, Namblong

The Menoken Way 

As a business rooted deeply in Indigenous ways of being and knowing, relationships shape everything we do — from the team we work with, our processes, to the commodities we sell. 

What this looks like for our team is that we prioritize hiring tribal members, Indonesians, and those part of the diaspora. We are a team for Indonesia, by Indonesia. Our meetings are held in sacred, customary forests, conducted in Bahasa Indonesia and/or tribal dialects, and are always filled with traditional song and ceremony. Commodities cultivated and sold are traditional, endemic, and of cultural significance. 

We’re deepening how people think and talk about the role that Indigenous Peoples have in addressing climate change, the value of Indonesia in the global stage, and what "social and environmental" impact for business means.

Mare women and Oge, from our Community Partners at Kaoem Telapak, negotiating and setting prices for their native commodities like keladi, papaya, and bananas

I’m asking my fellow Americans and others in the global north to consider making a year-end donation to support the Noken Fund*.

*The Noken Fund’s purpose is to raise and redirect funding from the Global North to indigenous-led climate solutions in the Global South.

As a new initiative, we are in a critical juncture with our project. Our next milestones are to complete the carbon feasibility model, natural resource commodity assessments, and launch the legal BUMMA entities. 

We need your help to achieve these milestones. We have a target to raise $75,000 from individual donors by January 31st, which will be able to serve as a bridge as we await additional institutional funding.

This will help us: 

• Continue regular meetings between our field operations team and the tribal economic teams by paying for gas, meals, and meeting supplies 

• Make the necessary repairs and maintenance on our two trucks, which serve as the only transportation method for many of the tribal members and our team 

• Cover payroll for our 5 field operations teams members 

• Pay for the operational costs for field reporting, surveying, and monitoring necessary to successfully complete the carbon project milestones and commodity assessment 

• Provide the capital expenditures needed to improve our operational home base in Mare, such as building a restroom, rest area, and inventory storage 

Support us and other Indigenous-led groups by donating to the Noken Fund now.