'Foolish' small business idea: Selling their Internet address, which ends in 'TV'.
Start-up Capital: Zero - marketing company approached the islanders with offer.
How small business idea was Launched: A company that markets Internet addresses, signed a deal with Tuvalu to sell its Internet address to buyers worldwide.
Sales: The company sells address to TV stations and other businesses in the television industry like 'Disney Channel .tv'
Earnings: An up-front fee of $50 million was paid by the marketer. For each of the 9,000 citizens in Tuvalu that's $5,500. The islanders also expect to earn a total of $300million in commissions over the next 10 years.
The citizens of Tuvalu, a Polynesian nation with a population of just 9,000, have witnessed a remarkable transformation thanks to the internet. Tuvalu, a small island situated 650 miles north of the Fiji Islands, has a traditional lifestyle with its residents living in simple thatch huts and relying on a diet of fish and coconuts. However, the island's fortunes changed when it began selling its coveted Internet domain name, ".tv."
With the $300 million they are set to receive from selling the rights to this domain, Tuvalu is planning significant improvements to its infrastructure. The money will be used to fund the construction of schools, hospitals, houses, and roads, dramatically changing the living standards of the island's residents. This unique situation highlights the potential of digital assets in transforming the fortunes of even the smallest nations.
Stranger than fiction; although the Internet is directly responsible for catapulting this society from living in a simple primitive manner to the comforts of modern living - the islanders can't surf the web themselves, because the country isn't yet connected to the Internet.
dot TV examples- 'disney channel .tv' - 'bidup .tv' - 'ebert roeper .tv' - 'fox box .tv' - 'bid up .tv'