Event: Ashoka Induction Ceremony

Ashoka's North American induction ceremony in Los Angeles, December 9th.  (The pdf invite includes the full list of the new Fellows.)  

One new Ashoka Fellow that caught my eye was Matt Flannery, c0-founder of Kiva, which I have argued recently should spread into microfranchising.  I find it interesting that Ashoka, which has a long track record of finding social entrepreneurs early in their development, picked up Flannery about two years after he and Kiva were discovered by the blogging community but at the same time the remaining 24 fellows are likely completely unknown in the blogosphere.  How can these two networks cross-pollinate?

MicroFranchising Conference Nov 6-7

I received an update from the 2008 ESR Conference folks with details about the MicroFranchising Sessions. The early registration/discount deadline is tomorrow, October 20th. Here are the descriptions for the MicroFranchising sessions:

Business Solutions for Development
Come listen to Jason Fairbourne and Steve Gibson discuss how microfranchising can serve as a bottom of the pyramid solution for development.

Branding a Microfranchise—VisionSpring, HealthStores, & Living Goods
Miriam Stone from VisionSpring, Scott Hillstrom from HealthStores, and Chuck Slaughter from Living Goods will join Jason Fairbourne and Steve Gibson in discussing specific challenges and remedies for creating a microfranchise brand.

Systemization of Microfranchises—Grameen Foundation & Mercy Corp
David Lehr of Mercy Corp, along with representatives from the Grameen Foundation, will discuss systemization, replication, and scale as it relates to global microfranchise initiatives.

Research from the Field—Brigham Young University
BYU has spent two years studying microfranchise institutions around the world and collecting data that compares them with microcredit institutions and stand-alone businesses. Findings from Bangladesh, Guatemala, and Ghana will be presented here.

SoCap08 Major Donors and Entreprenurs Mixer

There is a big-time event coming up in San Francisco for the social enterprise crowd, SoCap08- October 13-15. It appears that the entire list of who's who in the 'new philanthropy' in Silicon Valley will be there, both from the entrepreneur and investor sides.

The registration fee comes across as a bit high for me but if one were able to secure a major funding relationship at the conference it would be well worth the investment, let alone the education available with such a lineup of speakers.

As I look over the schedule of events, a couple panels that look particularly interesting in the context of franchising--

"Taking Social Enterprise to Scale" - Rick Aubry, Rubicon Ventures

Obvious connection. Rubicon has bakery and landscaping social entreprises in the U.S.

"Social Investing 101" - Regina Connell, Good Capital; R. Paul Herman, HIP Investor Inc.; Andrew Kassoy, B Lab; Steve Godeke, Godeke Consulting

I'd be curious to see if franchising is brought up in the fundamentals class.

"Market Creators" - Deb Dunn, Skoll Foundation; Tim Freundlich, Good Capital; Elise Lufkin, Calvert Giving Fund;Andrew Kassoy, B Corp; R. Todd Johnson, Jones Day

This topic has been on my mind recently. If I were there and the topic was not addressed I would bring up the statement by the CEO of Kickstart regarding his projected timetable and the need for donor investments to reach that tipping point in the market.

"Democratic Capital" - Melanie Swan, MS Futures; Premal Shah, Kiva.org; Mads Kjaer, MyC4; Rajesh Jayaraman, Zopa; Ben Rattray, Change.org

I have always felt there is enormous potential for microfranchising to partner with these democratic capital raising solutions. An investor making snap judgments on these sites may have greater confidence to support a new business in the third world if it is a proven franchise operation. These sites could help facilitate greater diversity in these markets by doing so.

"Design in the Developing World" - Regina Connell, Good Capital; Paul Polack, International Development Enterprises; Tim Brown, IDEO

I would be on the lookout for products conducive to product franchising.

Overall, it looks like a fantastic event. From the perspective of the entrepreneur I am struck by the collection of investors that will be present, all looking to be educated on how to spend their wealth, a great opportunity to showcase one's work. From the perspective of a new investor wanting to get involved in social enterprise I see this as a great forum to learn from some of the best and most experienced in the field.