IL Postcard

After the Tsunami: Why I Started a Business in Indonesia

Date: 10/15/2008

Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008

Learn more about making money overseas in International Living Postcards—your daily escape

Dear International Living Reader,

After the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2004, many of the survivors had no homes, food, or jobs. I couldn’t stand by and watch this suffering continue, so I sat down to devise a business plan to try to ease the situation. I didn’t realize that this would create a million-dollar business that would not only help people rebuild their lives, but also allow us to travel the world at our leisure.

My wife Louise and I came up with the idea of employing the local artisans in the small villages to make one-of-a-kind embroidered handbags that incorporated native patterns passed down from generation to generation, which Louise would bring back to the States and sell to her friends.

Louise remained in the States while I was stuck in some different projects in Indonesia. Every trip home, I would bring back some boxes; the first time two large boxes, then five, then 11, until in August 2006 we both realized that the demand had grown so much that we had to bring them in another way. That’s when Laga Designs International, Inc. officially launched and began growing at a rapid pace.

Early in 2007, The Orange County Register, the largest newspaper in Orange County, Calif., where we lived live, called and said they would like to do a story on us, which we agreed to. A few weeks later, the story appeared. The phone started ringing at 6 a.m. at our condo office and I awoke to an inbox of more than 921 and $3,000 worth of Internet sales. One of the hundreds of answering machine messages was that the newspaper put their story on the full first page and last page of the business section.

There was so much response that Louise ended up going to Indonesia by herself, and I stayed in the office filling orders and running the office. Needless to say, it was crazy, chaotic, frantic, and, at the same time, it was fun. There are bags all over the place, in the garage, living room, family room; out of three bedrooms, two are used for the office, which now includes one full-time assistant, one part-time assistant, and five volunteers.

In August 2007 we brought our first 40-foot container from Indonesia to Orange County. All the bags are being stored in the parking lot behind a building that is leased by a friend, who is not charging us for the space.

With the factories half a world away, filling orders quickly can present challenges. We started our own factory and training center two years ago with 12 young women, mostly in their 20s, who have lost family members and friends. Today we are proud to employ 150 staff, mostly women, and co-op with three other factories to meet the demand. To see those women now, how they are so empowered, gives us all hope. We do our little part to help people and make someone else happy and smile, and it makes us realize how blessed and fortunate we are.

Roy Van Broekhuizen
For International Living

Editor’s Note: Start your own import-export business today and you could be as successful as Roy and Louise by this time next year. Click here to order our step-by-step guide to starting a successful import-export business.

Read related IL Postcards:

- The Most Profitable Turkish Delights

- How One U.S. Woman Recreated Rick’s Café in Morocco

- Four Ways to Earn a Living in Mexico