The Earth of Borneo, which is so rich in natural resources, really provides everything that humans need with the will to put in the effort. Not only coal is very abundant in Borneo, but also other natural resources derived from plants and animals that can be utilized and have high value. One of Kalimantan's natural resources that is used by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is the Ulin tree stump which is still widely spread in the forest. The founder of PT Anakayu Bangun Nusantara, Irfan Adi Siswanto, introduced the Uleen MSME product at the National Proud of Indonesia Movement (Gernas BBI) event in South Kalimantan. The focus of the MSME business managed by Irfan is the utilization of a variety of wood that is no longer used, or can be called waste, to be reprocessed into products that have high selling value and have competitiveness. The wood waste is taken free of charge. The waste that most people consider as worthless goods is transformed into a variety of interesting and productive products. Wood waste includes used wooden pallets that are no longer used by large companies or industries to the weft of ironwood trees that have been cut down that are still left in the forests of Kalimantan. The products made by Irfan are divided into two, namely furniture and furniture for interior and exterior made to order, as well as handicraft products in the form of kitchen utensils, fashion, to decoration. Uleen is a trademark created by Irfan to introduce handicraft products which are mostly made of ironwood. Who does not know Ulin wood? This tree which has the name iron wood is very famous for its strength and durability. In contrast to most wood that rots and rots when submerged in water, ironwood actually gets stronger the longer it is exposed to water. The ironwood tree itself is a typical Kalimantan plant that only grows on the island of Borneo, both in the forests of all provinces in Kalimantan and in Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia, which are still one island.

The robustness of the wood, which is known as Iron Wood in foreign countries, is increasingly valuable because of its rarity and status as an endangered plant. Ironwood tree growth is also very slow. From the age of zero to 100 years, this tree can only grow to a diameter of 50 cm. It is at the age of 100 that the ironwood tree can be cut down for its wood. Compare with teak trees that can be used for wood at the age of 35 years. The remains of felled ironwood trees that have been planted since the colonial era are still scattered in the forests of Kalimantan. The weevil and roots of the ironwood tree can be taken for free, but with a lot of effort. Irfan is one of the people who take pains to lift the weevil and roots of this ironwood tree to be used as goods of high selling value. "To enter the forest, you have to walk three hours. The lifting process can take two days, done manually using a hoe and crowbar," said Irfan. Now, he has empowered the local community to be employed to lift ironwood weevil, from digging to transporting the roots of the tree. From the rest of the tree roots, Irfan and his team made various kinds of ironwood-based wooden crafts such as spoons, forks, cake knives, vases, ashtrays, bowls, plates, glasses, displays in the form of trucks and barges, cutting boards, and watches. Exports Irfan's journey to develop this waste wood product is not big. The business he started in 2017 started from the production of custom home furniture to order, until finally developing the business into the production of kitchen utensils and accessories. This product made from rare wood with the Uleen trademark was eyed by PT BNI Tbk to be invited to an exhibition in South Korea in 2019. Beyond expectations, in fact Uleen products received good interest from the South Korean community.

Irfan said that the high interest of the international community for Uleen products is because the raw material for ironwood itself is well known and has a high reputation in foreign countries. "When I exhibited in Seoul, I sold one cutting board for 30 thousand won, that's equivalent to IDR 450 thousand. If it's IDR 150 thousand here. I brought the 70 cutting boards in three days," said Irfan. After that, Irfan continued to expand his market by exporting to several other Asian countries such as Japan and Singapore. The export volume of Uleen's products has not reached one container. Therefore, Irfan racked his brain by entrusting exports together with Jepara furniture products, which already had an international market. The most recent export destination to market Uleen's products is the UK. From the export of ironwood products, Uleen can achieve a turnover of IDR 130 million to IDR 150 million every month. Uleen's turnover grew from only IDR 20 million a month in 2019 with two employees to IDR 150 million a month after export employing 25 employees. For the Uleen product market, it is indeed more in demand abroad than the local market. Uleen's export sales contributed 70% with the remaining 30% for the domestic market. Uleen's journey to the international market cannot be separated from the MSME coaching and training program organized by the government in order to increase the capacity and business scale of local MSMEs. Uleen has long been a partner of MSMEs assisted by Bank Indonesia by being provided with various benefits, ranging from training, production equipment assistance, to access to financing. "Wow, there are so many benefits. We brought in digital marketing experts, they were taught, if we had exports we looked for a market. My agreement with the Singapore buyer, BI was the bridge. We were also referred by BI to state-owned and private banks to be able to access financing, "said Irfan. Uleen also participated in the South Kalimantan Proudly Made Indonesia National Movement Campaign (Gernas BBI) which was held at Taman Siring KM 0 Banjarmasin City on July 22 to July 24, 2022. In the future, Irfan said he wanted to develop Uleen's business scale to be bigger by opening stores throughout Indonesia to facilitate the delivery of online sales. Currently, Uleen is only producing and opening a sales shop in Banjarbaru. "We plan to open stores in Surabaya and Jakarta, so that for the eastern and western areas we can supply," said Irfan. The opening of the shop is to minimize shipping costs considering ironwood has a heavier weight than wood in general.

Source: https://www.antaranews.com/berita/3015333/umkm-uleen-ubah-limbah-jadi-produk-ekspor-ke-empat-negara