Starter Kit. Idea 366 of 500. Cluster 18
Import agencies in each city with a Sri Lankan community, stocking Sri Lankan brands and nothing else
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
Collect samples of five Sri Lankan-branded goods, packed and priced for export, and take them to the owners of three grocers in one city abroad who stock goods from home. Ask what they pay now, who supplies them and whether they would place a trial order of one case each. A trial order is your proof; the prices they quote show your margin.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan grocer abroad who already stocks goods from home through a middleman and would buy direct from an agent carrying only Sri Lankan brands.
- What leaves today
- Sri Lankan goods abroad often sell under other traders' names; an agency that stocks only Sri Lankan brands keeps the brand and the margin with the island.
Ask first
- Sri Lanka Export Development Board. Ask which Sri Lankan brands are already export-ready and seeking buyers abroad.
- Sri Lanka Customs. Ask what export documents a small mixed consignment needs.
Check before you spend
The import, food and labelling rules in the destination country, who pays duties there, and that every brand you stock may be sold there.
Find out these three numbers
- What do grocers pay now for the same goods?
- Who supplies them today, and how reliably?
- Will each grocer place a trial order of one case?
A comparison from the book
Who starts which. Appendix
"The single most valuable thing a Sri Lankan in Melbourne or Zurich can do"
Being the first order and the first honest review for producers at home is the whole job.
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.