Finding a Sri Lankan “honda bass” online
A local software solutions company has invested over Rs.5 million to find you a “honda bass” (hondde-good) at no cost to the public or the worker thus employed.
Xiteb, a software solutions provider to a number of companies in the country and a partner at the recent Cinnamon Future of Tourism summit showcased their services and also identified itself as the “honda bass” service provider when contacted by the Business Times during the coverage of the conference.
The organisation’s Chief Operating Officer Dhanesh Jayathilaka said “We don’t charge the worker and the user – we are the only website which has more than 850 workers and will reach 1000 within the next three weeks,” he said when contacted on Tuesday.
He explained that they had come up with this novel concept of displaying the services of carpenters, plumbers and the like in over 20 categories when they themselves found it difficult to find good workers at a time when they required some help around the house.
Having already spent about Rs.5-6 million the www.hondabass.lk website is looking for partners to take the project to the next level where they could uplift the work of these workmen and provide a service to the nation.
All information pertaining to their services could be obtained on its website and an Android app with contacts obtained through people everyone knows with a wide coverage.
Mr. Jayathilaka explained that they would even take the initiative to find these workers by contacting them through advertisements displayed in villages and elsewhere for tube well services and the like.
When they spot these notices, they would take photographs and contact these people and then take down at least two mobile numbers, he explained.
The ‘honda bass’ organisers have also conducted workshops for these workers encouraging them to conduct themselves in a manner pleasing to the public and giving them tips on how to behave like not chewing betel and spitting all over among other mannerisms.
Launched five months ago, the website has generated about 2000 downloads while the Android app has attracted 700 downloads after being launched about two months back.
Plans are underway in the future to promote the most popular workers with hoardings and an offline campaign including newspaper advertisements. He noted that the organisation would check on the workers every four months to ensure that they were still contactable and were working.
The most popular workers would be listed on top but those wanting to be placed in a similar manner would need to make a payment for it, it was pointed out.