Idea 306 of 500. Cluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
Open-source projects turned into product companies, the WSO2 route, for the next 100 engineers
The mechanism, from the book
The proof exists in Malabe. What is missing is a thousand small versions of it.
Every idea in cluster 15 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Choose one open-source project that companies abroad depend on, fix three real issues on it, and have the fixes accepted. Then find companies that use it through its forum or issue tracker, and offer a paid support hour or an integration job. Accepted fixes are your credential, and one paid engagement is the proof that the consultancy exists.
- Who pays first
- A company abroad that depends on an open-source tool and pays for support from someone who has already fixed its code.
- What leaves today
- Engineers here contribute to open source for free or not at all, while the consultancy fees around those tools are earned abroad.
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. ThreeWhat We Have Already Built
The stock exchange in Malabe
More from cluster 15
- 296Remote-work hubs in Kandy, Galle and Jaffna with fibre, power and a lawyer who knows the tax
- 297A Sri Lankan software product, not a services firm: one tool, sold by subscription to the world
- 298Bookkeeping for small British and Australian firms, in their time zones: the software keeps the books, and a qualified accountant here checks them and answers the client's questions
- 299Lawyers here checking the contracts and filings that AI drafts for foreign law firms, since commercial law here follows English law, the higher courts work in English and the lawyers are here
- 300AI set up and looked after for small businesses at home and abroad: the booking replies, the invoices, the product descriptions in five languages, for a monthly fee
- 301Architecture and engineering design for firms in the Gulf and Europe: the drawings made with the new tools, and an engineer here who checks that it will stand up
Idea 306 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.