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Fresh produce for sale at a busy market

Impact & business

Jobs, nutrition and cleaner sucos

Each Suku Unit is owned by a local cooperative, supplied and supported by VIEM, which buys the harvest at a pre-agreed floor price — so every unit is a business, not a donation.

Social impact

Five ways a unit changes a suco

  • Person planting seedlings in a raised bed

    Jobs close to home

    Each Suku Unit employs 3–5 cooperative members, prioritising women and young people. Operators earn a share of sales, not a stipend.

  • A boy standing beside a watering can in a garden

    School nutrition

    Units at schools supply fresh greens and fish to school meals (Merenda Eskolar) and double as a living classroom.

  • Two people examining plants in a greenhouse

    Skills that transfer

    The VIEM Academy trains operators in fish care, water chemistry, basic electronics, record-keeping and digital tools.

  • Wooden boxes filled with compost

    Cleaner sucos

    Each unit diverts an estimated 50–100 kg of organic waste a week from burning or dumping.

  • Solar panels in a green field

    Climate resilience

    Year-round production that does not depend on rainfall or soil fertility — using a fraction of the water.

How it works as a business

A hub-and-spoke network

The VIEM Hub near Dili is a commercial demonstration farm, training centre, black soldier fly feed plant and packing house. Suku Units are owned and run by cooperatives, and VIEM buys their harvest at a pre-agreed floor price.

Farmer harvesting greens while crates of fresh produce are loaded into a VIEM delivery truck

VIEM Hub

near Dili

Suku UnitSchool unit
Suku UnitSuco office
Suku UnitCommunity hall
Suku UnitSchool unit
Suku UnitSuco office

Harvest bought back and sold to

  • Schools
  • Hotels
  • Supermarkets
  • Markets
Hub-and-spoke model: the VIEM Hub near Dili supplies and supports five Suku Units at schools, suco offices and community halls, then sells their harvest to schools, hotels, supermarkets and markets.

Revenue streams

Six ways VIEM earns

  • Stream
    Fresh greens & herbs
    Customer
    Supermarkets, hotels, restaurants
    How VIEM earns
    Margin between buy-back and wholesale price
  • Stream
    Fresh fish
    Customer
    Markets, restaurants, households
    How VIEM earns
    Margin on cooperative fish, plus Hub production
  • Stream
    School supply
    Customer
    Schools, municipal meal programmes
    How VIEM earns
    Contracted weekly supply
  • Stream
    BSF feed & compost
    Customer
    Fish, poultry and pig farmers
    How VIEM earns
    Direct product sales from the Hub
  • Stream
    Unit kits & setup
    Customer
    Cooperatives, NGOs, government, donors
    How VIEM earns
    Kit sale or financed lease, installation fee
  • Stream
    Training & support
    Customer
    Operators, schools, development partners
    How VIEM earns
    Academy courses; monthly support subscription

Indicative unit economics

One Suku Unit pays back in 12–18 months

Planning estimates at Dili wholesale prices, to be validated during the pilot. Set-up is financed through a lease repaid from sales, a donor grant, or a municipal partnership.

Monthly, US$ (low – high estimate)
  • Sales350–500
  • Costs90–130
  • Support fee25
  • Net to co-op235–345
Indicative unit economics for one Suku Unit (US$)
ItemUS$ (estimate)
Set-up: tanks, NFT, shade house, solar & battery, sensors, gateway share3,500 – 4,500
Monthly sales: greens, herbs, fish350 – 500
Monthly costs: fingerlings, seed, top-up nutrients, maintenance90 – 130
Monthly VIEM support fee (monitoring, assistant, visits)25
Monthly net to cooperative235 – 345
Payback on set-up12 – 18 months

Rollout plan

Measured, phase by phase

  1. Pilot

    3 months

    VIEM Hub demo system plus 2 Suku Units at Vorakai-connected sites — one school, one suco office — with sensors and Tulun VIEM live.

    Success measure: Fish survival > 90% · alerts answered < 2 hours · first buyer contract

  2. Year 1

    10 units

    10 Suku Units in 3 municipalities, a black soldier fly feed plant at the Hub, and school supply agreements.

    Success measure: 50 operators trained · 40% of feed from BSF

  3. Years 2–3

    30+ units

    30+ units, a second hub outside Dili, and kit sales to partners.

    Success measure: Hub break-even · operators earning above minimum wage

Assumptions and how we test them

Known vs guessed — tested cheaply first

  • Assumption
    Buyers in Dili will pay near-import prices for reliable local greens
    Known or guessed
    Guessed — riskiest
    Cheapest test
    Sign letters of intent with 3 buyers before building; sell Hub produce for 4 weeks
  • Assumption
    BSF larvae can replace much of imported fish feed
    Known or guessed
    Known elsewhere in the region
    Cheapest test
    One BSF bin at the Hub; measure feed conversion over one fish cycle
  • Assumption
    Cooperatives will keep daily routines without VIEM on site
    Known or guessed
    Guessed
    Cheapest test
    Pilot with weekly remote check-ins only; log missed tasks
  • Assumption
    Tetum operators will trust and use WhatsApp alerts
    Known or guessed
    Partly known
    Cheapest test
    Paper prototype of 10 alert messages tested with 5 operators
  • Assumption
    Solar sizing survives the wet season
    Known or guessed
    Calculated
    Cheapest test
    Run the Hub unit on solar only through one rainy month

How it could fail

…and what the design does about it

  • Type
    Technical
    Failure
    Pump or power failure kills fish
    Design response
    Battery-backed aerator; local rule triggers without internet; loud on-site buzzer
  • Type
    Technical
    Failure
    Satellite link down for days
    Design response
    Controller stores 30 days of data; SMS fallback; printed response guide
  • Type
    Technical
    Failure
    Sensor drift gives false readings
    Design response
    Monthly calibration kit; weekly manual test strip logged in the app
  • Type
    Financial
    Failure
    Buyer drops out or prices fall
    Design response
    Spread across 5+ buyer types; school contracts as base demand
  • Type
    Financial
    Failure
    Cooperative cannot repay the lease
    Design response
    Repayment as a share of sales, not a fixed amount; wet-season grace period
  • Type
    Social
    Failure
    Disputes over income or control
    Design response
    Written cooperative rules agreed with the xefe suku; transparent sales records on the dashboard
  • Type
    Social
    Failure
    Operators leave for other work
    Design response
    Train 2 back-up operators per unit; certificates that reward staying

If the constraints change

Ready for the live adaptation round

At the finals, judges change one major constraint. Here is how the design flexes.

  • Budget halved

    Drop fish from the first units and run hydroponics with compost-brewed nutrients; share one sensor kit across two neighbouring units.

  • No grid or weak solar

    Switch to a gravity-fed, low-pump design with timer-based flow and a manual aerator; fewer fish per litre.

  • Severe drought

    The closed loop already recycles water; add a covered storage tank and prioritise high-value, low-volume crops.

  • Remote suco, hours from Dili

    Sell locally first (school, market, clinic), aggregate only surplus fish, and let the dashboard schedule fewer, fuller collection runs.

Vorakai Konekta Challenge 2026

Read the full proposal — every assumption, risk and number.

Eleven pages covering the circular design, offline-first sensing, Tulun VIEM, unit economics, rollout, failure modes and how we adapt when constraints change.

Download proposal Company profile
Preview it online and see how it answers the judging criteria
Vorakai Konekta Challenge 2026Timor-Leste

VIEM Konekta Farms: connected circular hydroponic & aquaponic hubs

Fish feed the plants, waste feeds the fish, and the suco's new connection keeps the loop alive.

AI & Data track