Making a Difference in Africa
MicroFranchising Launch:
Trade Show and Workshops
by Martha Deacon
Founder and CEO
The Townships Project
2011 Toronto International Microfinance Summit
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Making a Difference in Africa
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Making a Difference in Africa
Report from South Africa
31 August – 2 September 2011
O.R. Tambo Recreation Centre
Khayelitsha, Cape Town
South Africa
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Making a Difference in Africa
The Townships Project
• has been supporting microfinance in South
Africa since 1998, and currently supports
Tetla Financial Solutions and Phakamani
Foundation
• created MicroFranchising Launch in
response to the challenges it has faced in
making microfinance as effective and efficient
as possible
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Making a Difference in Africa
• What is MicroFranchising Launch?
• How does it relate to Microfinance?
• Why does it matter?
• What does it mean?
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Making a Difference in Africa
• MicroFranchising Launch was designed
as a forum to address the four limiting
factors in microfinance
• By applying the world’s most successful
business system to the world’s most
intractable problem: systemic poverty
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Making a Difference in Africa
Microfinance
Limitations:
1) 20% max voluntary;
80% necessity
2) “whack-a-mole”
jealousy;
3) Too many doing the
same thing
4) Building assets &
infrastructure
The Unicycle
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Making a Difference in Africa
Asset-Based
Community
Development
The
Bicycle
Let’s use what
we have to
get what we
want
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Making a Difference in Africa
Asset-Based Community Development
helps communities to understand
The Leaky Bucket
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Making a Difference in Africa
Third Wheel:
Corporate Social
Investment/
Enterprise
Development
The ThreeWheeler
The ABCD’d
community
seeks additional
resources…
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Making a Difference in Africa
Fourth Wheel:
Microfranchising
and other
commercial
solutions
FourWheel
Drive
Potential to
systematize,
replicate and
brand a tiny
business
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Making a Difference in Africa
• Market information
• Banking services
•Money transfer
•Repayments
•Savings
• Inventory restocking
• Accounting
• Training
• Mentoring
Mobile
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Making a Difference in Africa
Four Wheel Drive Mobile
meets MicroFranchising Launch!
plus
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Making a Difference in Africa
• MicroFranchising Launch: Trade Show and Workshops
brought all these elements together in a unique format … it
happened!
31 August – 2 September 2011 in
Khayelitsha, South Africa
• Government policy makers met townships entrepreneurs met
corporate entrepreneurs met franchisors met community activists…
• To create and support new microfranchising businesses to
build a massive job creation engine at the bottom of the
economic pyramid…
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Making a Difference in Africa
On right:
Sadi Luka, Chief
Director of
Community
Development,
Department of
Social Developmen
On left: Tumelo Chipfupa, Deputy Director-General,
Enterprise Development, Department of Trade and Industry
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Making a Difference in Africa
THREE CASE STUDIES
From MicroFranchising Launch:
Trade Show and Workshops
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Making a Difference in Africa
• Example: Keys Communications
• Challenge: Securing exclusive sites
on home walls owned by grannies
who resell them several times to competitors
• Solution: Deal with the “chief” granny
through local church groups to build
understanding and loyalty, thereby increasing
competitive uniqueness – ACHIEVED in 2
hour workshop
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Making a Difference in Africa
Kabelo Kale
Founder of Keys Communications
Did you make
any business
connections or
deals that you
think will be
useful? If yes,
please tell us
what they were.
“Indeed, we identified a few opportunities including providing
most of the businesses that were in the Workshop Process
access to The Townships. We have identified opportunities for
Siyabonga Bakeries, and certainly existing township businesses
like Lebo’s Backpackers, we’ll be doing some walls for them. We
also made business connections with Legal Wise, and a
possible partnership is brewing there. We are further more
excited about the low cost biking franchise opportunities, upon
which we hope to be the 1st to launch in Soweto, and KZN. All
this stems from The Township Projects!”
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Making a Difference in Africa
Kabelo’s unedited answer to “What did you like about
the Launch?”:
“The organization of these workshops was superb. We
were well taken of from the word go. BUT, I liked the
flow of events the most. The Plenery Sessions and
The consequent Workshops, understanding different
aspects of Micro Franchise and how they relate to my
business, and being given the opportunity to
interrogate my own business in relation to those
aspects of Micro Franchise, WOW! There is no other
genius event systematization and thought out eventing
like that.”
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Making a Difference in Africa
• Example: Crime Scene Clean-Up
• Challenge:
Cost of franchise R 136,000
($20,000) vs. township entrepreneur ability
to pay about R 10,000 ($1,500)
• Solution: Downsize without losing any
branding, systematization or replication
functions – ACHIEVED in 2 hour workshop
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Making a Difference in Africa
Eileen de Jager
Co-Founder, Crime Scene Clean-up
The company cleans and decontaminates sites
after a traumatic or violent event. Ambulance
decontamination is offered as an additional
service.
Did you make any useful
business connections? If
so, please tell us about
them.
YES, I met a lot of really helpful business people,
we will set up appointments in the near future to
discuss our opportunities. We are also busy with
Honda to see how we can implement the scooters
with our business.
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Making a Difference in Africa
Eileen’s unedited answer to “Any new ideas from the Launch?”:
“New ideas? definitely YES, the project changed our whole
outlook on the expansion of the business, hygiene
services is much more needed in the township
communities than we thought, I also realised that these
communities does not know about the dangers involved
in connection with hygiene. The job creation on its own
could be phenomenal if done up to standard. Our
business plans are in process to be changed to be able
to make it affordable for an entrepreneur to start his or
her own business. The operations and systems also need
to be adjusted to complete the process.”
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Making a Difference in Africa
• Example: Honda Scooters
• Challenge: Maximizing the
townships market even with
100% financing strategy
• Solution: Focus on micro-businesses
lacking transit options rather than city
commuters; take advantage of microfinance
credit track record – ACHIEVED in 2 hour
workshop
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Making a Difference in Africa
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Making a Difference in Africa
1st element:
Plenary
Sessions
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Making a Difference in Africa
2nd element:
Workshops
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Making a Difference in Africa
3rd element:
Trade Show
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Making a Difference in Africa
What was achieved?
• 15 businesses were workshopped to become or
expand as microfranchises by a cross-section of
townships people, community workers, business
tycoons, students, entrepreneurs and
government policy makers
• New partners met, deals were made & business
plans revised
• Everyone saw the power of small:
microfranchising is now being integrated into the
mainstream for all who participated
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Making a Difference in Africa
MicroFranchising Launch: Trade
Show and Workshops
A new annual event in South Africa designed to
use microfranchises to build a massive job
creation engine at the bottom of the economic
pyramid!
Making it happen!
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Making a Difference in Africa
Thank you!
Interested in helping us?
Contact marthadeacon@thetownshipsproject.org
Next Toronto Workshop
5:30 – 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, 22 September 2011
At Macleod Dixon LLP
RSVP essential
www.thetownshipsproject.org
Working in South Africa; headquartered in Toronto
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