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microfranchise
Microfranchise: Early Adopters
By David Stoker, Guest Author Whenever ‘MicroFranchising’ is mentioned a prominent example is cited: the Scojo Foundation. It was recently highlighted in the January 2007 edition of the Economist and in an article by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar in the Economic Times entitled MicroFranchising: the Next Big Thing. Scojo brings reading glasses to the poor
Grameen on MicroFranchising
By David Stoker, Guest Author The Grameen Bank has been the leading institution in the field of microcredit and microfinance. They are also leading the way in the field of MicroFranchising as they have expanded into a Grameen Family of Enterprises. Perhaps the most impactful of their microfranchises has been Grameen Phone and its Village
The Vision of MicroFranchising
By David Stoker, Guest Author MicroFranchising is a development tool that seeks to apply the proven marketing and operational concepts of traditional franchising to small businesses in the developing world. The primary feature of a MicroFranchise is its ability to be streamlined and replicated. The businesses are designed for microentreprenuers and usually target development issues
Beyond Microfinance
By David Stoker, Guest Author After 2005 was declared the year of Microcredit and 2006 had the father of microcredit, Muhammad Yunus, being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, microcredit has become a mainstream concept and strategy in poverty alleviation. (Even my eighty-year old grandfather is a lender on Kiva.org now) However, with increased attention comes
Micro-Franchise For Venture Investment
For those of you who have read my discussion with Prof. Raj Reddy at Carnegie Mellon, you are familiar with our debate over MicroFinance, MicroEquity and MicroFranchise. We continued drilling down on this topic last weekend, following Sequoia’s investment in Micro-Finance company, SKS. I also wrote a piece referring back to some ideas from 2
The Education Problem: Raj Reddy (Part 15)
I conclude my conversation with Raj discussing some theoretical benefits of his plan to take high speed network access to the villages. Additionally, Raj explains what he feels is necessary for this vision to come to reality. SM: Anything that improves or provides their livelihood can be the killer app. RR: Yes, that is the
The Education Problem: Raj Reddy (Part 14)
Raj and I engage in a conversation debating the potential uses and benefits of providing high speed network connectivity to rural areas. In the process, we have some disagreements on microfinance models, but agree on the end goal of the killer app: providing a livelihood to the poor population. SM: The question is, by selling
Coke, Pepsi & the Indian Heartland
December 2004. We were traveling in India. As we waited for our train at a small railway station in Bolpur, a small town near Calcutta, we watched a boy of 10 or 12 arrange his merchandise in preparation for boarding the train to Calcutta. He stacked up hundreds of packets of chips, cookies, and snacks
