About

Microfranchising

We are the recognized thought leader in the microfranchising space, having researched, designed, launched, and scaled microfranchises for several years.

  • Vision Spring
  • Herbalife
  • Living Goods
  • Solar Sister
  • Ruma
  • Vodacom

Microfranchising is the systematization and replication of microenterprises in developing markets. Microfranchising solves a number of problems faced by businesses in developing countries. Our research has found that microfranchises are effective as both a product delivery system and a livelihood creation tool. Our expertise comes not only from being a thought leader but also from working with multiple microfranchise models around the world—learning what works and what doesn’t.
We leverage our extensive microfranchise experience to integrate best practices in our clients’ businesses.
We recognize a distinct difference between being an entrepreneur and a business owner. We use a microfranchise model to create business opportunities that a wide variety of individuals can operate, and therefore help our clients scale their operations.

Description:

Poverty remains one of the most intractable problems in the developing world. Microfranchising offers great promise in alleviating poverty by aiding in the foundation of locally owned businesses. Microfranchising involves the systematizing of microenterprises to create and replicate turnkey businesses for the poor. With the awarding of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics, attention has increased on this remarkable concept. This unique book provides an overview of the need to alleviate poverty and what methods have been used in the past to do so (e.g. microcredit). It then introduces the concept of the microfranchise and discusses how this business model can be used in poverty alleviation.

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“Microfranchising has enormous promise. First, the model makes sense: it fits the reality of the bottom of the pyramid, has the right incentive structure, and can enable more people to have good jobs than the microfinance model (which truly requires entrepreneurial talent). Second, the model allows social entrepreneurs to invest in poor countries, allowing them to ‘do well and do good’ at the same time.”

Katherine Terrell, Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan

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Description:

Most poor people start businesses because they have no other choice, not because they have a burning desire to become entrepreneurs. For these necessity entrepreneurs, microfranchising poses fewer risks and offers greater benefits than does creating a new business from scratch.

Authors: Fairbourne, Christensen, Lehr

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Fan Milk is Ghana’s leading ice cream retailer, founded by a group of Scandinavian investors to provide the protein requirements of Ghanaians. Fan Milk operates as a microfranchise with a hub and spoke network of distributors. Each young microfranchisee has either a bike or a cart with a cooler full of ice cream and/or frozen yoghurt products. The microfranchisees benefit from a strong brand with a well known product that people want. The ice cream sells for roughly 30 cents.

  • Operates in 7 African countries
  • 10,000 microfranchisees
  • $72 million revenue in 2009
  • $20 million profit in 2009
  • 95% retention of microfranchisees
  • Microfranchisees earn double that of their microfinance counterparts