Transition Enterprise Ideas

Introduction

Transition Enterprise could be seen as a way to engage people with "projects that pay." Well structured enterprises can engage people to offer the goods and services a community in transition needs, and in turn they could be rewarded with both national local currency - as well as the inevitable and hugely valuable social capital gained by being part of the solution and providing things which build community resilience.

Have a think about the list below and see if you can come up with some ways to turn these community needs into 'projects that pay'.  You are welcome to share your ideas on this page for others to consider, or if you come up with a brilliant concept and want to make a go of it by yourself or with friends, then go for it!!

Health; Education; Housing; Employment; Transport; Food; Water; Energy; Clothing; Waste; Information; Economics.

To get the ball rolling we've come up with some ideas and listed them here.  Feel free to take any of these ideas, or inspiration from them, to be the start-up seed to your Transition Enterprise.

Health

Regenerate peoples soil with natural methods.

Create a community herb garden; Facilitate community health education forums.

... add more ideas.  It's easy, just click on the edit tab toward the top of the screen and type away.

Education

Facilitate entertaining community education forums.

Create a recognition and reward scheme for skill and knowledge diversification.

... add more ideas here.

Housing

Create innovative building materials with waste or renewable sources.

Help people make cost effective energy improvements to their homes.

... add more ideas here.

Employment

Create a community directory of people willing to do work for cash or local currency.

Start a Transition Enterprise and employ heaps of people.

... add more ideas here.

Transport

Set up and run a community funded roaming vans and electric bikes system using smart technology. (you can talk to James Samuel for more details on this idea)

Create an online car pooling program.

... add more ideas here.

Food

Start a Farmer Brigade in your town.  (email po@ohmpo.com to find out more details on this idea)

Virtual Orchard.  Create a database of all the fruit trees in the community and then coordinate harvest times with seasons.  Sell the fruit, pay the pickers and owners of the fruit trees with cash and fruit and keep some profit for yourself. (you can talk to James Samuel for more details on this idea)

Commuinty Supported Agriculture (CSA) service.  Be the initiator and coordinator of a local CSA program and get paid in cash and food.

Social Kitchens.  Have you ever noticed that people spend a lot of time on their own preparing meals? With a social kitchen program they could be using that time to socialise and save money.  Either use community halls, an abandoned restaurant or just a round robin concept with peoples home kitchens.

Food swap kiosks.  Maybe a trailer in each catchment area that is open between 10am and 1pm for people to bring surplus food from their gardens and orchards and swap with food that other people have brought along.

... add more ideas here.

Water

Design, build, install  affordable brown water systems to be rolled out anywhere. Water costs and availability are going to make these an essential part of any home, business etc..

.. add more ideas here.

Energy

Coppice plots for renewable and clean burning firewood.

... add more ideas here.

Clothing

Clothing swap meets.  Everyone brings a bag of clothes that they're bored with and add them to a big pile of other peoples clothes and then everyone picks through looking for things they like. Have sewing machines on the ready for adjustments and totally creative expression.

... add more ideas here.

Waste

Start an eco-enterprise.  Collect containers from people to refill with natural garden or cleaning products.  see www.terracycle.org for inspiration.

... add more ideas here.

Information

Start a community online marketplace.

... add more ideas here.

Economics

Start a community bank with local currency.

... add more ideas here.

These are just a few seeds for ideas that could be the start of your transition enterprise.  If you would like to explore these ideas or others further, please feel free to contact James Samuel or Pete Russell at po@ohmpo.com   Go forth and prosper!