Build on Trust
I remember being in Barbados thinking how good it would be if there was a way of finding trusted suppliers that you could use from abroad. TRUSTED is the key idea, reliable, honest and effective would be other factors.
That was some time ago but the need is still there. Let’s say you have property or land to manage. You will need legal, financial, property management and maintenance services. You would also need to know about the legal and regulatory context there. Assuming you are not going into a specialism around this, it may be that you just need to go on a journey with a process that is unfamiliar, intimidating, expensive and emotionally draining.
So the idea behind the Directory is to list such services. We could go for trying to be a comprehensive list of everything but I think quality, trust, verification are more important than quantity. So that would be my preference for building this directory.
Members
For that I feel we need a Membership element built on mutual support. So we exchange, list and review services that we have some faith in, which in turn would help other members. Not that a recommendation has to be more than that. If the referral does not work out, you can let other members know. That way we built a resource based on trust. Also suppliers should have right or reply as there are many sides to every story. This would also have to be a part of the site, giving that supplier a voice. The underlying idea is transparency, so other members can make up their own mind about a supplier.
Knowledge and Support
There is also a learning and knowledge element. How do you get to find out about what you actually need to do. Others have been on that journey – can that knowledge be shared with you? There has to be such an element also – sharing knowledge and support.
Survey
Please have a go at my survey, which is designed to find out about what knowledge and support may be needed or offered. The link will take you to a memaps.net site and Lime Survey. Thanks in advance for helping to give a picture of how we can develop this resource.
Link to Survey: https://memaps.net/survey