Idea 441 of 500. Cluster 23: The women who are not working
Women's craft co-operatives with a single brand and a single buyer abroad
The mechanism, from the book
The single largest unused asset in the country is sitting at home, and the reasons are practical, not attitude.
Every idea in cluster 23 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Collect one finished piece from each of eight women's craft groups in a district, photograph them against one background under one label, and send the set to three shop buyers abroad through contacts among Sri Lankans abroad. Ask each for the price and quantity at which they would place a first order. The proof is one buyer naming a price for a single branded range.
- Who pays first
- A shop buyer abroad who wants one reliable supplier with consistent quality, not 20 groups sending samples separately.
- What leaves today
- Crafts leave the island unbranded through traders who keep the margin; one brand and one buyer let the makers keep it instead.
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. OneThe Letter That Says Yes and Means No
32% of adult women in work, against 70% of men
More from cluster 23
- 436Childcare co-operatives run by mothers for mothers, licensed and inspected, in every town
- 437After-school clubs at the schools, paid by the parents, run by teachers who want the income
- 438Women-only transport services for the night shifts and the early trains
- 439Home-based work platforms that pay properly: sewing, bookkeeping, transcription, design
- 440Shared workspaces for women with childcare attached, in Colombo and the district towns
- 442Breastfeeding rooms and creches sold to the factories as a service, since the law asks for them
Idea 441 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.