MicroFranchising: Creating Wealth at the Bottom of the Pyramid

'What do buying honey, renting mobile phones and fitting prescription glasses have in common? Answer: they are all activities that have expanded in low-income countries through microfranchising. This book brings together the ideas of researchers and social entrepreneurs at the heart of a movement to turn microfranchising into a mechanism for sustainable poverty reduction on a scale to match microfinance. A seductive mix of advocacy and realism, analysis and case-study provides readers with the ingredients to make up their own mind about the potential of microfranchising as a development tool.'
- James G. Copestake, University of Bath, UK

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 is defined as small businesses whose start-up costs are minimal and whose concepts and operations are easily replicated. It involves the systematizing of microenterprises to create and replicate turnkey businesses for the poor. With the awarding of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, 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. Different models of microfranchising are reviewed and specific case studies highlighted to show how it has worked in different parts of the world. This book concludes with a discussion of the advantages as well as the potential problems and pitfalls that accompany microfranchising.

This book is a must read for business scholars and economists, practitioners and lenders, members of NGOs dedicated to poverty alleviation and anyone else who is interested in learning about an innovative, business focused tool to alleviate poverty.

Contributors: N. Blumenthal, L.J. Christensen, W.G. Dyer, Jr., J.S. Fairbourne, N. Felder-Kuzu, M. Fertig, S.W. Gibson, J. Hatch, M. Henriques, M. Herr, M. Hoyt, E. Jamison, F. Jiwa, J. Kassalow, G. Macmillan, K. Magleby, H. Tzaras, J. Van Kirk, B. Wood, W. Woodworth