Idea 447 of 500. Cluster 23: The women who are not working
A footwear industry on the garment industry's model: shoes and sandals soled with Sri Lankan rubber, made for the world's brands first and then under a brand of its own
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
Talk to two shoemakers and one sole maker about making a single sandal design together, with soles from local rubber. Make twenty sample pairs, test them for wear, and show them to a buying agent who sources footwear for brands abroad. Ask what quality, price and order size they need. The proof is a paid sample order.
- Who pays first
- A buying agent for a brand abroad who needs a new footwear supplier and pays for a sample order first.
- What leaves today
- Rubber leaves raw at a low price; soled into shoes here, it leaves as a finished product worth far more.
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 447 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.