Idea 369 of 500. Cluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
Gift and grocery delivery to parents at home, ordered by their children abroad, for a birthday or an ordinary week
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
Agree prices with one grocer and one cake shop in your town, and offer 10 families abroad a delivery to their parents: a weekly basket, or a cake and flowers on a birthday, with a photograph sent on arrival. Take orders through a simple form and a bank transfer. Families who order a second time without being asked are the proof.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan abroad who wants a parent's birthday, or an ordinary week, to include something from them, and cannot carry it to the door.
- What leaves today
- Money sent home buys little the sender can see; a delivery with a photograph turns it into care the parent receives, and the spending stays with local shops.
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
- 363Sri Lanka House in London, Melbourne and Toronto: a shop, a café and a desk, the Colombo model abroad
- 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
Idea 369 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.