Idea 445 of 500. Cluster 23: The women who are not working
Sinhala and Tamil dubbing and subtitling studios, selling to the streaming platforms and the film-makers of the world
The mechanism, from the book
The single largest unused asset in the country is sitting at home. Much of what keeps it there (childcare, safe transport, working hours) can be sold as a service, and the industries that would employ it can be built.
Every idea in cluster 23 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Record a short sample: one scene from a film dubbed into Sinhala and subtitled in Tamil, with clean sound and accurate timing. Find two voice artists and one subtitler, and agree a rate per finished minute. Send the sample to local channels, film-makers and the agencies that supply the streaming platforms, and ask what they pay per minute. The proof is one paid order.
- Who pays first
- A film-maker or channel that wants a film to reach Sinhala and Tamil speakers, and pays for each finished minute.
- What leaves today
- Voices and language skill sit unused; a studio sells them to the world's screens and is paid in foreign money.
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
- 441Women's craft co-operatives with a single brand and a single buyer abroad
Idea 445 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.