Dried fish and Maldive fish for Sri Lankans abroad, packed to a food-safety standard

A first step

Phone the owner of a Sri Lankan grocery in London and ask which dried fish they stock, where it comes from and what customers complain about. Then send a sample pack sealed and labelled to a food-safety standard, with a trade price, and ask for an opening order. A first carton ordered, or a clear list of what must change on the label, tells you the next step.

Who pays first

A Sri Lankan grocery owner in London who wants dried fish they can shelve without worrying about inspectors, and that customers trust to be clean.

What leaves today

Sri Lankans abroad already buy dried fish abroad, but the packing, labelling and safety standard that command a shelf price are done outside the island.

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. TwoAn Island Nobody Has Counted
  An ocean eight times the size of the land

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