Idea 158 of 500. Cluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
Digital booking platforms for guides, artisans and experiences
The mechanism, from the book
The tiny business pathway. A rural woman with an exceptional product should not need photography, English copy, packaging design and a distributor before the world can find her.
Every idea in cluster 7 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Sign up 10 guides, potters, cooks and weavers in one town who would take bookings from visitors, and list each with a photo, price and availability on a simple booking page. Give the link to three guesthouse owners to send to their guests, and take a commission on each booking. The bookings in the first month tell you whether the town can support it.
- Who pays first
- A visitor staying in a guesthouse who wants to book a potter or a cooking class for tomorrow and cannot find one online.
- What leaves today
- Visitors book experiences through platforms abroad that keep a share of the price, or find nothing and spend the day elsewhere.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. SeventeenOne Building
The dozen small things that turn a product into money that stays
More from cluster 7
Idea 158 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.