Idea 447 of 500. Cluster 23: The women who are not working
Women-led export businesses in this list given the first slot at the shared trade-fair stand
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
Pick three women-led businesses from this list that already make something to export, and ask each what it would need to stand at a trade fair: samples, price lists, a card in English. Then approach the other exporters planning to share a stand and ask them to give the first slot to women-led firms. The proof is a slot agreed and three sets of samples ready.
- Who pays first
- A woman exporter who could never afford a stand of her own, and pays a share because the first slot puts her product in front of buyers.
- What leaves today
- Products made by women often leave through a trader who sells them abroad under another name; a trade-fair slot lets the maker meet the buyer.
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.