Idea 165 of 500. Cluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
A shared cold-chain service for small food producers, from village to port
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
Talk to 10 small producers of fish, fruit, curd or vegetables in one area and ask how much they lose each week because it spoils before it reaches a buyer. Price a refrigerated van run to the nearest port or city twice a week. If their losses are bigger than your price per load, ask three of them to commit to a month of runs.
- Who pays first
- A small fish or fruit producer who loses part of every harvest to heat before it reaches a buyer.
- What leaves today
- Produce that spoils on the way sells for nothing or for local prices; a cold chain lets it reach the port and the export market.
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 165 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.