| Sports |
Binn Huletove, the achiever
JACK METTA
profiles an achiever, who is riding the crest of a wave that was
his dream
IT is said that if you’ve done
something long enough, it rubs off onto you and you start to
emulate it or become involved in the activity in a big way.
And for someone such as Eastern Highlander Binn Huletove, it is
a natural transition because he sees the success of the activity
all around him and it was inevitable that he would become
involved in the activity sooner than later.
Binn, whose name is synonymous with the Alekano Savings and
Loans Society has just finished planting citrus fruit trees on
his two-hectare farm in his home village of Kefamo on the
fringes of the Eastern Highlands capital of Goroka.
“Personally, this is quite an achievement because I have never
been a farmer in my life,” Binn modestly confessed during an
interview with Rootmettas. “Farming and growing citrus fruit is
a whole new ball game to me.”
He has obtained 570 citrus fruit seedlings of Californian and
Israeli variety from Ongul Kombung who is a horticulturist with
the Division of Primary Industry in Goroka.
The first citrus fruit harvest is expected in three years.
But why citrus fruit farming rather than the mainstream cash
crops such as coffee, of which the Highlands provinces are
richly blessed – the landscape abound in what has often been
referred to as ‘the green gold’?
Binn is following his instincts. He sees heaps of money in
citrus fruits.
“I did some research and concluded that citrus fruits could
bring in more income than coffee. That is why I have taken up
citrus fruit farming rather than coffee. And I have plans to
extend the farm if all goes well in the not too distant future.”
The project, however, is but a diversion from Binn’s real work
and that is what is quite remarkable by the man who has earned
himself the nickname Alekano, after the savings and loans
society that Binn set up in April last year.
Alekano, in the local Gahuku dialect is “bring it here” and
bring it, Binn did.
In the short time that he had set up office five miles outside
Goroka, Alekano Savings and Loans Society is now servicing more
than 3,000 customers near and far. Apart from savings and
assisting parents pay school fees for their children, Alekano is
in the forefront of getting farmers started, rehabilitating run
down farms and businesses locally, in the districts and in the
neighbouring Simbu province.
And to think that Binn had initially started the society to
cater for the interests of his village people at Kefamo.
But that is what business it all about.
“If you’re on a good thing, it’s a blessing and it needs to be
extended and shared,” Binn contended.
In fact, Alekano has set its sight on “bringing it over” to Lufa
district and Port Moresby.
“It is all in our plans towards the end of this year and next
year,” Binn told Rootmettas.
The business, in fact, had always hovered in the back of his
mind during his career path.
And he thanks God for the gains that he had made in achieving
that goal.
Educated in the nearby Okiufa Community School, Goroka
Demonstration High and Kerevat National High, Binn gained his
diploma in commerce from the University of Technology, Lae, in
1987 and a degree in the same field from the University of PNG
in 1993.
In between, he had taken up job offers at Lus Development
Corporation in Wewak and Sika Limited in Kundiawa.
After graduating from UPNG, Binn landed a job at Bank of Papua
New Guinea as auditor and examiner, a responsibility which meant
keeping a close watch on the activities of the savings and loans
societies in PNG.
He left the bank in 2000 to take up a lucrative job with the PNG
Power Savings and Loans society which commanded a five-figure
salary.
During all this time, there was that something niggling him –
the thought he had begun at Okiufa, persisted at Kerevat where
he forfeited his school holidays to stay back at the school and
work for pocket money and through his post-graduate work life –
help his own people.
The vision took hold in mid-2000 when he applied and was granted
a licence to open up a savings and loans society in Goroka and
the rest of the story is history.
Savings and loans had certainly rubbed off onto him as his
dealings with his customers had rubbed also off onto him.
“It’s a mutual thing really, like you scratch my back and I’ll
scratch yours and after the itch is over, we become good
friends.”
At least that’s what Binn feels and his time now is also juggled
among work, farming and tutoring.
He is conducting basic accounting and business practice classes
at the University of Goroka and interest had been overwhelming.
“Obviously, they realise the value of basic accounting and
business practice and no doubt want to expand their horizons in
the course of their career,” Binn confided.
And the university had not been hesitant to acknowledge the
positive contribution being made and had extended the lessons
for another 12 weeks at the university.
Binn is a success story, a story that began with an ambition and
appears never ending. In between, benchmarks are being set and
lives changed … for the better and that is more than the K50
that Binn earns for himself a fortnight in allowances as
chairman of the board of directors of Alekano and its general
managing.
“I consider bringing it over to the people a just and noble
reward.”
And doesn’t that supplement the Wise Counsellor’s words: “Too
many people are ready to assert their rights but not to assume
their responsibilities ...”
 
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