Inovation
Shoes used to be big here, but not like they used to be.
I was operations manager at Timberland for 5 years, and before that, with Brooks running shoes for about 12 years. (San Pedro)
A lot of shoe companies have flown the coop.
I also had operations at Power One (power supplies) in Las Americas for 9 years.
Lets talk about some normal stuff. There is an old man here that built a home made lathe. He makes from old used truck and tractor tires. Rubber grommets for front end steering and grommets for other parts of old cars. This old boy does very good for himself.
I once had to drill a hole in a roofing beam that was 2 feet thick. Could not find a drill long enough. One of the guys took an old piece of re bar and with a chzzel split the end and i then put in my drill. Worked little hard but got the job done.
Ever watch them weave the top of homemade chairs. They do it by holding the fibers with their toes and twist them into a form of rope fiber with their hands. Then weave them on to the chair.
Ever watch them use a wood saw. They turn the saw backwards and saw away from them. Seems like it works well.
Once had an old man who was an expert stone breaker. He made his own pick and i never saw a store bought one that would do the job. He did it with his own invention.
Ever see a compo woman kill a chicken. They grab the chicken as it walks by. By the head and then swing it around couple times and let it then bleed out on the ground. Less messy than an ax.
My wife told me about an idea that her grand father had for a business. In the time of The Chivo you could not come into the city if you had no shoes on. That was a very strict law then. So he got some old shoes and when someone wanted to go into the city he would rent them for the trip. They always returned them! Seems like people were more honest then.
Lets see if you can come up with some good ideas!