Idea 463 of 500. Cluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
An escrow service for buyers abroad: the money is held until the goods arrive or the work is confirmed done
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
Find one Sri Lankan abroad who is paying somebody at home for work they cannot see finished: a roof repair, a wall, a plot cleared. Offer to hold the payment in a separate account under a short written agreement both sides sign, and release it only when the buyer confirms, with photographs, that the work is done. Charge a small fee. The proof is one completed job where both sides say they would use you again.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan abroad paying for building work or goods at home that they cannot inspect, who pays a fee so the money moves only when the work is confirmed done.
- What leaves today
- Sri Lankans abroad hold back money for work and goods at home because they have been let down before; held money lets the job go ahead and be paid on the island.
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 463 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.