Idea 363 of 500. Cluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
Sri Lanka House in London, Melbourne and Toronto: a shop, a café and a desk, the Colombo model abroad
The mechanism, from the book
1.5 million people abroad who know how rich countries work, and who send home money and little else.
Every idea in cluster 18 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Take a table at one Sri Lankan community event in London, Melbourne or Toronto with tea, spices and a few products from small makers at home, priced and labelled, plus a sign-up sheet for a regular stall. Note what sells out, what nobody touches and who asks about a desk for business. A sold-out table and a list of regulars is the case for a shop.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan family abroad who wants tea, spices and gifts from home in one trusted place rather than an unlabelled shelf in a general grocery.
- What leaves today
- Sri Lankan goods reach cities abroad unbranded through other traders; a Sri Lanka House keeps the margin and the name with the makers.
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. EightWhat It Costs to Go First
What bonds sold to Sri Lankans abroad have and have not done - Ch. SixteenThe Bridge
The institutions that could carry value back
More from cluster 18
- 361A directory of Sri Lankans abroad: who does what, where, and what they will help with, verified
- 362Return-relocation services: the school, the house, the car, the tax, in one package
- 364Money-transfer products that buy a specific thing at home, a course, a machine, a roof, rather than cash
- 365Investment clubs of Sri Lankans abroad that own one business each at home, with a manager on the ground
- 366Import agencies in each city with a Sri Lankan community, stocking Sri Lankan brands and nothing else
- 367A returning-professional registry that hospitals, universities and firms at home can search
Idea 363 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.