Idea 486 of 500. Cluster 27: The north and the east
Jaffna's Karuthakolomban mango graded, packed and sold under its own name, in Colombo and abroad
The mechanism, from the book
The land, the lagoons and the savings of families abroad are waiting. What comes first is the small business.
Every idea in cluster 27 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Buy 100 Karuthakolomban mangoes in season from 3 growers in Jaffna, sort them by size and ripeness, and pack them in boxes with the variety and the district on the label. Sell them in Colombo through 2 fruit shops or a market stall and compare the price with loose mangoes. Then ask a Sri Lankan grocer abroad what they would need to import the same box. A higher price for the named box is the proof.
- Who pays first
- A shopper in Colombo, or a Sri Lankan grocer abroad, who knows the Jaffna mango by name and will pay more for a box that is graded and true to it.
- What leaves today
- The mango leaves Jaffna loose and unnamed, and is sold beside ordinary mangoes at an ordinary price.
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. ThreeWhat We Have Already Built
Jaffna in what we have already built - Ch. SixteenThe Bridge
A nurse who comes home with a credential and not only savings
More from cluster 27
- 487Jaffna heritage stays in the old Dutch and Jaffna houses, restored by the families abroad
- 488Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu farm co-operatives with a cold chain to Colombo
- 489Batticaloa lagoon tourism: the singing fish, the kayaks, the prawns, sold as a week
- 490Technical colleges in Jaffna and Batticaloa funded by families abroad, with the employers at the table
- 491Trincomalee's Dutch fort and Koneswaram as one managed site, with a shop and a guide service
- 492Passikudah as a family resort town with the standard set by the residents, not the chains
Idea 486 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.