Former street vendor’s hard work pays off

AKU Kulo is a kaukau (sweet potato) farmer from Asaro valley in Eastern Highlands who now operates a fully mechanised farm registered as Hagereto Farmers Association with the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA).
Ask anyone for the “kaukau man” along the stretch of the Asaro valley and one would hardly miss this dark, 160cm stocky-built farmer – always on his modernised farm only a minute’s drive from the Highlands Highway.
Before planting kaukau’s, he was a street vendor-buyer in Goroka market supplying to a client based in Port Moresby. He was working for Western Highlander John Yap who had been supplying fresh vegetables to formal and informal markets in Port Moresby.
Aku recalled the days when he would fight with street vendors trying to buy vegetables to ship to Port Moresby out of Goroka and Lae.
“Yap was like a father to me and he taught me a lot of skills which I apply and see results,” he said.
Life was a struggle for him every day trying to buy the right crops to ship to Port Moresby, especially kaukau, as his earnings were commission based and if he delivered bad ones, he would miss out on his own income.
“It was a work done based on trust and respect for each other and as orders increased, so was my commitment and sacrifice finding the right type of crops,” he said.
After working for a few years, Aku said he realised he made a savings of almost K50,000 for himself through the commissions he collected without spending much.
“I told John that I wanted to quit and start my own thing,” he said.
It was a tough decision to make for me as well as John was a mentor all my youth years.