Idea 161 of 500. Cluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
Language training for the tourism trade
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
Run a 6 week evening class in German or French for tuk-tuk drivers, waiters and guesthouse staff in one tourist town, charging a small fee per session. Teach only the sentences they use at work. At the end, ask a hotel owner whether they would pay to put their staff through the next class. A paid group booking from an employer shows the demand.
- Who pays first
- A guesthouse or hotel owner whose guests speak German or French and whose staff speak only English.
- What leaves today
- Visitors who cannot be understood spend less and do not come back; language keeps their spending with local businesses.
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 161 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.