Idea 462 of 500. Cluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
Notary and document-checking services for Sri Lankans abroad in their dealings at home
The mechanism, from the book
The one thing. A country where people do not expect the rules to hold cannot build anything else, and proof can be manufactured by private people, one published record at a time.
Every idea in cluster 24 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Ask three Sri Lankan families abroad what documents they have needed certified or checked at home in the last year, and what it took: trips, fees, relatives chasing offices. Partner with a notary in one town and offer a fixed-price service with scanned copies sent the same week. The proof is the first paid order from a family abroad.
- Who pays first
- A family abroad who needs a document certified at home and has no relative free to chase it, paying for speed and a clear record.
- What leaves today
- Dealings at home for Sri Lankan families abroad stall on documents nobody can check from abroad; verified papers are the proof that lets them buy, sell and invest.
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. SixThe Fridge by the Road
The fridge by the road: proof that the rules hold - Ch. FifteenThe Odds
13 of 101 countries made it, and what Singapore's prosecution cost
More from cluster 24
- 451A verified-review platform for Sri Lankan businesses where the reviewer is real and the review cannot be bought
- 452Escrow services for transactions between strangers, so that the money moves when the goods do
- 453Published price lists at the tourist sites and in the taxis, with a complaints line that answers
- 454A landlord and tenant rating service, since neither can currently check the other
- 455Contractor registries with completed jobs photographed and clients named
- 456Independent building inspection, so that a buyer abroad knows what was actually built
Idea 462 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.