Renting a ‘spouse’
View(s):Imagine renting a spouse to accomplish all your needs except sex? While this statement is likely to offend many conservative people, ‘renting a spouse’ along with other requirements in today’s convenient lifestyle or economy will soon become a reality in the world. It may happen in Sri Lanka years later but, yes ‘renting a spouse’ will be part of the start-up or tech eco-system.
Start-ups or companies created from scratch using technology as the platform and taking Mark Zukerberg, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates as mentors or role models are growing so rapidly that the world is finding it hard to keep track of these new-age entrepreneurs. Even before they make waves in the world of business, successful start-ups have been sold with their cash-rich founders moving on to do other things including taking early retirement.
The ‘rent a spouse’ idea came after I read a piece last week about a local start-up called RentClub.lk which helps businesses and individuals to source products on rent. “We figured that businesses don’t really evaluate how useful rental or share models could be to their bottom line. Often, the money invested buying rapidly depreciating assets like projectors and laptops could be put to much better alternative uses,” Thawseef Jaleel, Managing Director of Rent Club said in that report.
There are also a lot of idle resources within companies that could be turned into income-generating assets. But many companies do not actively rent out or pursue this option due to the hassle of managing such transactions and that’s where Rent Club comes in, he said in a media release. Corporates can share details of idle assets and Rent Club will look for ideal clients who may want to rent them out.
Through this platform you can rent products such as vehicles, laptops, projectors, sound and audio systems on a short or long-term basis. “Renting makes it easy to get the items you need to keep your business growing without requiring large capital investments. At the core of renting is the flexibility that allows businesses to choose, depending on their situation, whether it is practical for them to buy or rent something,” says Jaleel.
That’s where renting a spouse becomes handy, I think aloud and as I reflect on this thought, Kussi Amma Sera butts in saying, “Aney Mahattaya, chee. Eka bohoma lajjai.” (That is very shameful). I then sit down and patiently explain to her what I meant, with her son, visiting from the village after his exams, listening attentively.
With the number of single parents growing in the world, there are many occasions when children need both parents (to meet teachers/principals) or when important documents need to be filled – properties, loans, leasing etc. So why not rent a spouse – man or woman – for such occasions and in time which may also be permitted legally?
Development the world over is gradually being governed by the rules of the sourcing or, one may also call it, renting economy which is growing not in leaps and bounds but 10 years in one go. Everything is being rented, not owned. All needs are in the name of convenience. Computer games are not only a playing field but often seen as a learning curve to hone IT skills. Imagine playing games on a computer two decades back and trying to convince your parents that it is also for learning?
Looking at Kussi Amma Sera’s 18-year-old son Panduka, I am reminded of a recent conversation with some IT veterans from the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM), the primary IT/BPO business association in Sri Lanka. I was told that there is huge potential for the young in the start-up or innovative knowledge industries. For instance, more than 4,000 employees have been recruited from outside Colombo (Kurunegala, Maharagama, Galle, etc) in the last two years by companies like Orange IT and Global Solutions systems showing exponential growth unlike any other sector. The entry requirement for AL-passed students is good attitude and basic computer usage capabilities. Starting basic salaries? Rs. 15,000 on average and another Rs. 25,000 as performance allowances that one can earn. These children are using this money to finish their degrees at places like NIBM, while working and helping to grow their capacity of higher order skills in the coming years. Panduka’s eyes and ears are alert but it would take probably a mountain to move Kussi Amma Sera’s rigid ways (the ways of many conservative villagers for that matter) of reasoning that a child’s future path is in finding a secure government job with a pension.
For that matter, my eyes and ears too were somewhat closed like Kussi Amma Sera in the theory of secure jobs and secure employment – either government or private sector – until stumbling upon a gathering of start-up entrepreneurs at a ‘meetup’ at a café more than a year ago. Energised by their thinking and the phenomenal growth of Facebook, Amazon, Tripadvisor, Uber and other online business platforms led to the Business Times profiling local start-ups and urging governments to look in this direction for export growth, jobs and tax revenue.
Success is swift for start-ups in many emerging online fields like construction, legal, medical, insurance while IT product companies like hSenid, Wavenet, Microimage, Boardpac, Codegen, etc have taken the Sri Lankan brand global across diverse industries. Unfortunately, due to lack of state support, the only brands that Sri Lankans are familiar with are Ceylon Tea, Dilmah, Sri Lanka Cricket or apparels.
Companies like IFS, Virtusa and WSO2 from Sri Lanka are all making waves across the world with production or innovation centres in other countries. Independent service providers like 99X and Epic have focused on particular markets and are penetrating heavily in winning new business in Nordic countries and Japan, respectively, SLASSCOM officials say.
Start-up capital is low and essentially built on an idea, innovative ways of implementation and determination to succeed. No large work spaces are required. What, however, might be needed is, and this is one area which the government can support, market information because many start-ups have not been able to move to the next level due to lack of market knowledge. Working on an idea alone is not enough; you need to know whether there is a market for such a product. Just like a recent bus booking platform whose founder realised a need after spending hours at the bus stand to board a bus to an outstation destination.
Consider this: The tech industry is estimated to earn US$1.2 billion this year from $1 billion last year with no government capital investment, concessions, subsidies or a marketing budget unlike sectors such as plantation crops, apparels, tourism, etc. Tech export earnings are targeted at $2 billion and more in the coming years and in time, likely to outstrip traditional earners including earnings from migrant workers. In fact, start-ups will start developing village economies and reduce the need for women to toil overseas as domestic workers.
So what is the industry seeking?
- Tripling state university seats for IT and innovation programmes
- Attract more global private universities to set themselves in Sri Lanka
- Make it simple and easy for skilled migration to bring in senior talent from across the world.
- Transform under-utilised government buildings (100,000 sq ft in each location) as working space units for the industry at subsidised rates in Galle, Kurunagala, Kandy and Jaffna.
- Invest $5 million into country branding over the next five years.
Unfortunately, local politicians support industries only if there is a benefit, kick-backs or ‘something ekak’ which this industry doesn’t offer. No tenders or contracts to fiddle with in the procurement process means such sectors are relegated to the wilderness even though growth is seen there (transforming the village economy). Having said that, one hopes the new team at the Finance Ministry will consider these pre-budget thoughts which require precious little government resources but bring more to the economy on both the short and long-term, than any other industry. I can see the extremely-attentive Panduka nodding his head in agreement, as I complete a rare talking-and-writing assignment. His future now lies in the hands, unfortunately, of the politicians.