Who starts which
If you are in Colombo with a skill and no capital
Clusters 2, 7, 15 and 24 are yours: the making, the photography, the copywriting, the booking platforms, the software, the verified review. Every one of them is a service to the other clusters, and every one can be started with a laptop and a customer. The whole appendix depends on somebody doing these first.
Your clusters
2
Sell the making, not the object
The craft cannot be copied and the object can. In Europe people queue to watch glass being blown and then buy the glass.
25 ideas, 21 to 45
7
The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
The tiny business pathway. A rural woman with an exceptional product should not need photography, English copy...
25 ideas, 151 to 175
15
Software, services and the remote desk
The proof exists in Malabe. What is missing is a thousand small versions of it.
25 ideas, 296 to 320
24
Proof and trust, as a business
The one thing. A country where people do not expect the rules to hold cannot build anything else, and proof can be...
15 ideas, 451 to 46590 ideas
- 21Half-day cooking courses: two curries and riceCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 22Full-day courses: a five-course Sri Lankan menuCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 23Multi-day culinary residenciesCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 24Batik workshops where you take home what you madeCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 25Pottery workshops, your own signature on the baseCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 26Handloom weaving demonstrations and short coursesCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 27Mask carving workshopsCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 28Gem cutting demonstrations with certified purchaseCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 29Jewellery-making classesCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 30Tea blending workshops, and your own blend packed to take awayCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 31Cinnamon peeling demonstrations on working smallholdingsCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 32Coconut processing demonstrationsCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 33Spice blending, with a labelled jar of your own mixCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 34Clay-pot cooking classesCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 35Fresco and mural painting workshops with local artistsCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 36Traditional hair-oil and herbal preparation classesCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 37Wood carving classesCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 38Lacquerware workshopsCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 39Village kitchen lunches, cooked with the familyCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 40Grandmother's Kitchen: one dish, one district, one storyCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 41Brass and bronze casting in the Kandyan tradition, watched from pour to polishCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 42Dumbara mat weaving taught by the families who still do itCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 43Palm-leaf manuscript writing with a stylus, your name on an ola leaf to take homeCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 44Drum-making and a drumming lesson in one afternoonCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 45Toddy tapping at dawn, watched from the ground, with breakfast afterCluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
- 151Product photography services for small producersCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 152Packaging design studiosCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 153English copywriting and product storytellingCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 154QR-linked product pages and simple ecommerce setupCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 155Packing, dispatch and international shipping servicesCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 156Export paperwork and rules advice for small producersCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 157Quality certification and food safety advisoryCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 158Digital booking platforms for guides, artisans and experiencesCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 159Hospitality training schoolsCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 160Tour guide certification programmesCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 161Language training for the tourism tradeCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 162Traditional craft apprenticeships, paid and certifiedCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 163Electric tuk-tuk conversion and rental fleetsCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 164Solar installation services for guesthouses and small businessesCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 165A shared cold-chain service for small food producers, from village to portCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 166Shared commercial kitchens certified for export, rented by the hourCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 167Label-printing and barcode services in every district townCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 168A single online catalogue of Sri Lankan export-ready products, curated, in EnglishCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 169Sample-shipping services: one box, tracked, to a buyer abroad, at a fixed priceCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 170Bookkeeping and tax services for micro-exporters, at a monthly subscriptionCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 171Insurance products for guesthouses and small producers that actually pay outCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 172Trade-fair representation: one stand at the Frankfurt, Dubai or Tokyo fair shared by 20 producersCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 173Translation services for product labels into German, Japanese, Chinese and ArabicCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 174Testing laboratories for pesticide residue and food safety, private and fastCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 175Website and booking-engine templates for guesthouses, in Sinhala, Tamil and EnglishCluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
- 296Remote-work hubs in Kandy, Galle and Jaffna with fibre, power and a lawyer who knows the taxCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 297A Sri Lankan software product, not a services firm: one tool, sold by subscription to the worldCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 298Accounting and bookkeeping outsourcing for small British and Australian firms, in their time zonesCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 299Legal paperwork done for foreign law firms, since the common law is the same and the lawyers are hereCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 300Typing up doctors' notes and reading scans for foreign hospitals, overnight, to their standardCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 301Architecture and engineering drafting services for firms in the Gulf and EuropeCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 302Video editing, animation and game art studios selling to studios abroadCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 303Customer support in English, Tamil and Sinhala for the businesses of Sri Lankans abroadCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 304Data labelling and AI-training services, which is the new garment work and pays betterCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 305A coding school with an employer guarantee, paid for by the employer at the endCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 306Open-source contributions turned into consultancies, the WSO2 route, for the next hundred engineersCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 307Cybersecurity monitoring as a service for the small firms of the regionCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 308Sinhala and Tamil language technology: keyboards, speech, translation, sold to the platforms that need itCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 309Payment and invoicing tools built for Sri Lankan exporters, in rupees and dollarsCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 310Freelancer co-operatives that bid as one firm, so the individual gets the enterprise contractCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 311A verified-skills registry for Sri Lankan developers, with tests and employer reviews, that a client abroad can trustCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 312Video-doctor services connecting Sri Lankan doctors to the parents of Sri Lankans abroadCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 313E-learning content in Sinhala and Tamil for the O-Level and A-Level, sold by subscriptionCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 314Drone-mapping and survey services for construction and agricultureCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 315Software maintenance for the legacy systems that every bank in the region still runsCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 316App development for the hundred tourism businesses in this list, on a revenue shareCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 317A jobs board for returning Sri Lankans, with salaries publishedCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 318Podcast and audiobook production in three languages, for Sri Lankans abroad and at homeCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 319Digital archives for family papers and photographs, a service Sri Lankans abroad will pay forCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 320Sri Lankan-founded startups incorporated abroad with the engineering here, the Virtusa route, deliberatelyCluster 15: Software, services and the remote desk
- 451A verified-review platform for Sri Lankan businesses where the reviewer is real and the review cannot be boughtCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 452Escrow services for transactions between strangers, so that the money moves when the goods doCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 453Published price lists at the tourist sites and in the taxis, with a complaints line that answersCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 454A landlord and tenant rating service, since neither can currently check the otherCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 455Contractor registries with completed jobs photographed and clients namedCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 456Independent building inspection, so that a buyer abroad knows what was actually builtCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 457Court-record and land-registry search services for the buyer abroadCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 458Supplier-audit services that a foreign buyer can commission before the first orderCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 459A website where every open tender is listed in one place, so a small firm can find it and bidCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 460Charity accounts published by a volunteer auditor, with a mark for those that doCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 461Mystery-shopping services that sell the report to the business and publish the scoreCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 462Notary and document-checking services for Sri Lankans abroad in their dealings at homeCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 463An escrow service for buyers abroad: the money is held until the goods arrive or the work is confirmed doneCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 464Consumer testing of products against their claims, from cinnamon grade to solar-panel outputCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
- 465Skill-certification bodies whose certificates employers abroad accept, because they testCluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business