Idea 162 of 500. Cluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
Traditional craft apprenticeships, paid and certified
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
Ask a master craftsperson near you, a brass worker, lacquer maker or weaver, whether they would take one apprentice for 6 months if the apprentice's stipend were paid. Then approach a hotel or exporter that sells the craft and ask whether they would fund that stipend in return for first call on the finished pieces. One funded apprenticeship is the model.
- Who pays first
- A hotel or exporter that sells the craft and needs a reliable supply once the older makers retire.
- What leaves today
- Craft skills die with the masters when nobody is paid to learn them, so the island loses products only it can make.
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
- 151Product photography services for small producers
- 152Packaging design studios
- 153Product storytelling: someone who goes to the maker, learns the story and checks that every word on the label is true
- 154QR-linked product pages and simple ecommerce setup
- 155Packing, dispatch and international shipping services
- 156Export paperwork and rules advice for small producers
Idea 162 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.