Starter Kit. Idea 365 of 500. Cluster 18
Investment clubs of Sri Lankans abroad that own one business each at home, with a manager on the ground
The mechanism, from the book
1.5 million people abroad who know how rich countries work, and who send home money and little else.
The first step
Gather 8 to 12 people from one Sri Lankan association abroad who each say they would put in a set sum, and draw up a one-page proposal for one small business at home, with the manager's role defined and a quarterly report promised. Ask each person to sign a letter of intent at a stated amount. The total pledged tells you whether the club can buy anything real.
- Who pays first
- A group of Sri Lankan professionals abroad who want to own something at home together but do not trust a relative to manage it alone.
- What leaves today
- Savings held by Sri Lankans abroad sit in foreign banks and foreign property; a club with a manager on the ground turns them into ownership of working businesses at home.
Ask first
- Department of the Registrar of Companies. Ask which structure lets many owners abroad hold one business at home.
- Board of Investment of Sri Lanka. Ask what applies when people living abroad invest in a local business.
Check before you spend
How a group abroad may lawfully own a share here, how the money comes in and goes out, and the manager's contract, all confirmed with a lawyer.
Find out these three numbers
- How much does each member pledge in writing?
- What does the chosen business need in capital?
- What will a good manager on the ground cost?
A comparison from the book
Bonds sold to Sri Lankans abroad. Chapter Eight
"No discount for home. A premium for the risk. That is what missing trust costs, counted in money."
Missing trust has a price; regular reports from a manager on the ground are how a club lowers it.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.