Community-based small- to medium-sized businesses.
Kirk Magleby, author of Microfranchises as a Solution to Global Poverty, observes that:
“In much of the world, formal jobs are so scarce that the vast majority of people are forced into self-employment in the informal sector whether they like it or not. These reluctant micro entrepreneurs operate hundreds of millions of tiny, low -productivity, copycat businesses that seldom generate profits, build little wealth, and create few jobs.”
“The developing world suffers an acute paucity of strong small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), dooming far too many countries to low economic growth rates, high unemployment, social unrest, and all the other pathologies that breed in poverty.”
In most developed countries, small- and medium-sized businesses typically employ 60% or more of the population and are the key to overall economic growth and prosperity.
Globalization isn't working for everyone.
Many products that were once made locally are now made in a few, large manufacturing centers. This lowers the cost of products to low- to middle-income consumers, but it also reduces local job opportunities and extracts wealth from the community. Local manufacturing and distribution, on the other hand, create a community economic multiplier effect.
Our objective is to increase the number of SMEs in developing countries by creating small business ownership opportunities that are more accessible to and feasible for people with little capital, education and business development experience.
