In late March 2020, Timor-Leste declared a national State of Emergency as Covid-19 cases began to rise worldwide. This saw numerous movement restrictions enforced throughout the nation and resulted in a substantial downturn in economic activity.
These restrictions have presented numerous challenges for our vendors and has meant they have had to come up with different strategies to continue promoting water filters.
We spoke to three vendors based in three different municipalities about how they have been operating during the State of Emergency.
Pictured above: Felismina is one of Abundant Water’s vendors still receiving business during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Felismina, who normally promotes filters at the Baucau market has been unable to do so in the past two months due to restrictions on large public gatherings. During this time, Felismina has instead been encouraging customers who already purchased a filter to refer any interested family members or friends to her and for every successful referral, she gives the customer a small commission. This allows promotion to continue amongst customer networks, without her needing to be present to demonstrate filters face-to-face.
She has also been calling existing customers to check if their ceramic filter cartridge is still working well. If the customer is interested in purchasing a replacement filter, she gets her son to deliver directly to the customer’s house by motorbike. Due to a shutdown of public transport, Felismina is unable to transport filters herself and has been working with her family to continuing operating.
Clara, who is based in Ainaro (roughly four hours from Dili) said the restrictions in her municipality have been quite strict and that she is no longer able to do door-to-door promotion. She has instead been using social media as a way of finding new customers. While there has been some slowdown in sales, she has still been able to find customers that have come directly to her house to observe and collect filters.
Manuel, from the far eastern region of East Timor has noticed that since the restrictions came into place, households have less disposable income and his family’s kios (kiosk) has been negatively impacted. Despite this, Manuel has been using social media and WhatsApp groups to promote water filters and has still managed to sell many filters throughout this period.
Throughout the period of restrictions, the three vendors have shown just how adaptable their businesses are. Using the power of social media and technology to reach more customers, the entrepreneurs have been able to continue to sell filters to their wider community, all whilst adhering to the strict lockdown conditions.
With 31% of the population on social media and the majority of those accessing the applications via mobile phone, the Abundant Water vendors see the importance of mobile sales to their business’ growth. Their ability to adapt has also paid off, with multiple vendors across the country selling out of their filters!
The Abundant Water team would like to congratulate the vendors on their resilience during this time of uncertainty and we look forward to watching their businesses grow as the country begins to reopen!
Some social media stats in Timor-Leste:
· 410,000 users of social media (31% of the population).
· 515,000 internet users (39% of the population).
· 91.6% of users report accessing social media exclusively via mobile phone.