Idea 173 of 500. Cluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
Export labels checked and signed off by a native speaker, against the rules of the German, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic markets
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
Find one native speaker for each of German, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic, at home or among Sri Lankans abroad, who will read a label and sign a note that its wording and its required details are right for that market. Take the label of one product already exported and have all four checked. Show the producer what was wrong. Then offer the check to five more exporters at a fixed fee per language.
- Who pays first
- An exporter whose importer in Germany, Japan or the Gulf has sent a label back, or whose shipment was held over its wording.
- What leaves today
- Labels that fail a market's rules send the product back in bulk to be relabelled abroad, and the importer keeps that work and that margin.
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 173 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.