Idea 369 of 500. Cluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
Property management for the houses Sri Lankans abroad own at home, with a monthly report and photographs
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
Offer three owners abroad of empty houses in your area a single inspection at a fixed price: every room photographed, the roof, the garden and the water checked, and a written report sent abroad within a week. Ask each, at the end, whether they would pay monthly for the same. One signed monthly arrangement is your first client.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan owner abroad whose house at home has stood empty since a parent died, and who hears about problems from neighbours months too late.
- What leaves today
- Houses owned by Sri Lankans abroad decay unwatched or are let informally; managed houses produce rent, repairs and local jobs instead of losses.
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.