Freelancer co-operatives that bid as one firm, so the individual gets the enterprise contract

A first step

Gather four freelancers with complementary skills, a developer, a designer, a tester and a project manager, and write one joint profile with past work, rates and who is responsible for what. Find one tender or project posting too big for any of you alone, and bid on it together. A shortlisting or a contract is the proof that the co-operative can win what individuals cannot.

Who pays first

A company abroad with a project too big for one freelancer, which will hire a team with a single contract and one point of contact.

What leaves today

Freelancers here win small jobs at low rates, while the enterprise contracts that pay properly go to agencies 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
• 298Accounting and bookkeeping outsourcing for small British and Australian firms, in their time zones
• 299Legal paperwork done for foreign law firms, since the common law is the same and the lawyers are here
• 300Typing up doctors' notes and reading scans for foreign hospitals, overnight, to their standard
• 301Architecture and engineering drafting services for firms in the Gulf and Europe

All 25 ideas in this cluster