Cluster 8 of 28. Ideas 176 to 190
The coconut, which deserves its own list
The mechanism
The whole-nut principle. Sri Lanka's coconut exports are growing, which makes this the one chain already moving. Almost every part of the nut has a market and most of them leave the island unprocessed.
The 15 ideas
- 176Coconut water, bottled and branded rather than sold as bulk concentrate
- 177Coconut water jelly and other set desserts, a product nobody yet associates with Sri Lanka
- 178King coconut as a named origin product, the way Alphonso is a named mango
- 179Virgin coconut oil, cold-pressed, certified, in consumer packs
- 180Coconut milk and cream in retail formats rather than industrial drums
- 181Coconut flour and desiccated coconut for the gluten-free and baking markets
- 182Coconut sugar, treacle and jaggery from the flower sap
- 183Coconut vinegar and arrack as origin spirits
- 184Activated charcoal from the shell, which is a high-value industrial input
- 185Shell craft, bowls, buttons, jewellery and lamps
- 186Coir from the husk: matting, rope, mats that hold soil on slopes, and potting material for plant nurseries
- 187Coconut-based cosmetics and hair products, which is where the margin is
- 188Coconut dessert cafés and product lines for visitors, so the story travels home
- 189Coir pots and seedling trays for the European garden-centre trade, replacing plastic
- 190Coconut-timber furniture and flooring from the palms that have stopped bearing
One nut, 15 businesses, and the only reason the island exports most of it raw is that nobody built the processing, the packaging or the brand.