The mechanism, from the book

177,000 qualify every year and 45,000 get a place. The other 130,000 are a market that nobody has built for, and the polytechnic is not a second choice when it leads to a job.

Every idea in cluster 16 uses this mechanism.

A first step

Book a room in a community hall or school for one evening a week for 4 weeks, and advertise one practical course, such as English for work or basic accounts, at a price per course. Take payment up front. If the course fills, run a second one. If it does not, ask the people who came what they wanted instead.

Who pays first
A working adult in a town who wants a skill for a better job and can only study in the evenings.
What leaves today
Adults who left school with no further route stay in low-paid work, because no one sells them a skill in the evening.

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 Starter Kit, printableOne click, no form, no name.

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. OneThe Letter That Says Yes and Means No
    177,588 qualified, 45,000 placed
WITH500BUSINESS IDEASTO STARTTOMORROW

Idea 334 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.