MicroFranchising recent Buzz

Primarily due to SoCap08, which was apparently bursting at the seams, and Blog Action Day on Poverty, there have been a series of posts around the web referring to franchising or microfranchising at the bottom of the pyramid. Here are some of the highlights:

A working paper shared by David Lehr of the Acumen Fund. This is the first major publication I have seen from someone outside of Brigham Young University, an exciting step if it means that research is moving out of academia into the private sector.

Jocelyn Wyatt shared her overall impressions which I think represents a good summary of the current pulse on the donor market and shows how well positioned microfranchises are to raise capital.

Gonzalo Pena gave a hat tip to the concept of microfranchising in his Top 10 list of ways to fight poverty and we were later able to have a good conversation together.

The MicroFinance Journal blog had a recent post about a microfranchise in the Philippines, Hapinoy, which represents another example of converting businesses in the informal sector into branded franchisees.

Al Hammond the creator behind WRI's bottom of the pyramid initiatives, including the well-known voice in the blogosphere - NextBillion.net, is using the term franchising openly in regards to the pharmacy network he is now building as a senior entrepreneur-in-residence at Ashoka.