The hub that is not on the list yet
Jaffna and the north
Jaffna and the north, where the resource is the palmyrah, the lagoons and the savings of families abroad, and the hub is a food and craft capital.
Why a hub
The country funnels its visitors through a handful of small heritage cores, most of them in the Cultural Triangle. That funnel is the problem when the cores are turnstiles. It is the answer when each core becomes a hub: the place where the region's own resource is grown, made, shown and sold, with a making-house at the gate where the visitor watches the work and buys it from the hands that did it. Sri Lanka House in Colombo is the model; these are the regional editions. A hub is also the one place in its region where the rules are visibly kept: clean, priced, and honest, with a complaints line that answers. Every one of the five hundred belongs to at least one hub.
Sri Lanka House in Colombo, the model every hub is a regional edition of
The clusters this hub is built from
27
The north and the east
The land, the lagoons and the savings of families abroad are waiting. What comes first is the small business.
10 ideas, 486 to 495
14
Farm to shelf
The smallholder sells raw to a collector at the gate and the collector sells to a packer who puts his own name on it....
25 ideas, 271 to 295
18
Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
1.5 million people abroad who know how rich countries work, and who send home money and little else.
20 ideas, 361 to 38063 ideas that belong here
Every idea in the hub's clusters, plus any idea elsewhere in the list that names this place.
- 99Street-food walks in Colombo, Jaffna and Galle with a guide who knows every stall's historyCluster 4: The experience economy
- 132Jaffna crab and cuttlefish curry as a chilled export dish for the Sri Lankan shops abroadCluster 6: Food and drink as export, not just hospitality
- 254Sea-cucumber and seaweed farming in the northern lagoons, which Japan and Korea buyCluster 13: The sea
- 271A farmers' co-operative dairy in the hill country selling cheese and yoghurt under its own brandCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 272Buffalo-milk mozzarella and ghee for the hotels and for exportCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 273Fruit and vegetable drying: mango, pineapple, papaya, jackfruit and okra as premium snacks and soup mixes for Europe and the GulfCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 274Frozen tropical fruit pulp for the smoothie chains of the worldCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 275Heritage rice varieties grown under contract and sold at ten times the commodity priceCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 276Organic certification services for smallholder groups, shared so the cost is bearableCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 277Mushroom farms supplying the hotels, since most are still importedCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 278Cut flowers and foliage for the Gulf and Europe, from the cool hills, the way Kenya does itCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 279Orchid nurseries for export, which Singapore built from nothingCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 280Seed banks and seed businesses for the heritage vegetables and grainsCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 281Honey from the dry zone, single-origin, tested and brandedCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 282Egg and poultry co-operatives with a cold chain, so the price does not collapse in the seasonCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 283Goat and sheep dairy in the north, where the animals already areCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 284Vegetable box schemes for Colombo households, direct from a named farmCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 285Drip-irrigation installation and maintenance businesses for the dry zoneCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 286Cashew-processing units in Puttalam owned by the growers, not by the tradersCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 287Kithul tapping co-operatives with a shared processing plant and a brandCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 288Tamarind, lime and ginger pastes for the restaurant trade abroadCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 289Agricultural drone services: spraying, mapping and counting, sold per acreCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 290Cold stores at the district level, rented by the palletCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 291A wholesale market app that shows the day's prices, so the farmer stops selling blindCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 292Palmyrah products from the north: toddy, jaggery, fibre, fruit, the whole tree the way the coconut is a whole nutCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 293Farm-machinery hire pools, so that a two-acre farmer can afford a harvester for a dayCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 294Wood-apple, passion fruit, jackfruit and jamun as jellies, jams and fruit leathers in jars, the way Britain sells marmaladeCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 295Home gardens turned into a supply chain for one hotel, with a contract and a priceCluster 14: Farm to shelf
- 296Remote-work hubs in Kandy, Galle and Jaffna with fibre, power and a lawyer who knows the taxCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 328A college teaching foreign degrees in Jaffna and one in the east, since Colombo has them allCluster 16: Education and the exam funnel
- 361A directory of Sri Lankans abroad: who does what, where, and what they will help with, verifiedCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 362Return-relocation services: the school, the house, the car, the tax, in one packageCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 363Sri Lanka House in London, Melbourne and Toronto: a shop, a café and a desk, the Colombo model abroadCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 364Money-transfer products that buy a specific thing at home, a course, a machine, a roof, rather than cashCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 365Investment clubs of Sri Lankans abroad that own one business each at home, with a manager on the groundCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 366Import agencies in each city with a Sri Lankan community, stocking Sri Lankan brands and nothing elseCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 367A returning-professional registry that hospitals, universities and firms at home can searchCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 368Summer schools at home for the teenagers of Sri Lankans abroad: the language, the history, the grandparentsCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 369Property management for the houses Sri Lankans abroad own at home, with a monthly report and photographsCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 370Wedding services for Sri Lankans abroad who want to marry at home: everything from the visa letter to the drummersCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 371Mentoring from abroad for the appendix: one professional abroad paired with one business at homeCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 372Sri Lankan restaurants abroad supplied direct from a Sri Lankan wholesalerCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 373A book club and speaker series abroad that puts Sri Lankan authors and founders in front of Sri Lankans overseasCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 374Second-generation internships at home, six weeks, arranged with firms that want the connectionCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 375Citizenship, visa and dual-nationality advisory services that are honest about the rulesCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 376Rotations for Sri Lankan doctors abroad: a month a year at a Sri Lankan hospital, arranged and housedCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 377Translation and interpreting businesses serving Sri Lankans abroad in their dealings with the state at homeCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 378A bank branch or credit union owned by Sri Lankans abroad that lends to the appendixCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 379Tamil and Sinhala Saturday schools abroad, franchised, with a curriculum that a child can passCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 380Retirement-at-home services for Sri Lankans abroad who want to come back at sixty and do not know howCluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
- 394Jaffna and Kandy literary festivals to sit beside Galle'sCluster 19: Heritage, archives and film
- 425Mini-grids for the islands off Jaffna and the villages the grid has not reachedCluster 21: Energy, water and waste at small scale
- 480Jaffna: a culinary capital, the crab and the palmyrah sold as a cuisineCluster 26: The cities, one idea each
- 486Palmyrah co-operatives owning the processing, the way the coconut list works for the southCluster 27: The north and the east
- 487Jaffna heritage stays in the old Dutch and Jaffna houses, restored by the families abroadCluster 27: The north and the east
- 488Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu farm co-operatives with a cold chain to ColomboCluster 27: The north and the east
- 489Batticaloa lagoon tourism: the singing fish, the kayaks, the prawns, sold as a weekCluster 27: The north and the east
- 490Technical colleges in Jaffna and Batticaloa funded by families abroad, with the employers at the tableCluster 27: The north and the east
- 491Trincomalee's Dutch fort and Koneswaram as one managed site, with a shop and a guide serviceCluster 27: The north and the east
- 492Passikudah as a family resort town with the standard set by the residents, not the chainsCluster 27: The north and the east
- 493Rice, chilli and onion from the Vanni as branded produce, since the quality is knownCluster 27: The north and the east
- 494Mannar's wind and salt as businesses: the pans, the kites, the birdsCluster 27: The north and the east
- 495A returnee service for the north and the east: permits, the tax office and the school, in one visitCluster 27: The north and the east