Freedom from Hunger pilots HealthKeepers: Preventative Healthcare in a Basket

I'll start with Freedom from Hunger and their MicroBusiness for Health Initiative. I, of course, am biased towards this project as I was involved in the needs assessment which turned out to be my main graduate work. Ellen Vor der Bruegge was the presenter.

Quick summary: Preventative health products in a basket sold by an microcredit borrower in rural Ghana patterned after the Avon or Tupperware models that were successful in rural America beginning in the late 1800's.

FFH could be considered the new kid on campus, they are just launching their program. They have put together a team of ladies to pilot the business and provide feedback. The name of the business is HealthKeepers and I like the fact that the women sellers chose the name for the business. As expected, they sell insecticide treated nets, condoms, and ORS packets with zinc but they also sell a handful of products, which Ellen called their “door-openers”. What would you guess is their biggest seller? Now, this is a region where malaria is hyperendemic, polio still exists in pockets, and children die everyday from ailments such as diarrhea. The answer, drum roll.... athlete's foot powder. That in and of itself is amazing--no traditional public health intervention would focus on athlete's foot, yet, market feedback identified a quick and simple product that is viewed to have high value in terms of quality of life. I think the key is that they experimented, they put something out there and let the market respond. If athlete's foot cream gets the customers attention which allows the HealthKeeper to explain the cost-benefits of investing in an insecticide treated net then I hope they become the largest distributor of athlete's foot powder in the world. I also liked that they gave free products to their entrepreneurs to try out, creating converts of the products, and subsequently creating a very convincing sales force. They also allow the seller to give away some products in the village to stimulate demand. I also liked that they try to source products locally.

Some of their challenges: Pricing--so that all parties in the value chain are sustainable. They are constantly trying to balance their three goals: increased health protection, providing a living wage for the entrepreneur, as well as create a sustainable business themselves as the franchisor. Another main challenge, and it was echoed by other presenters, is free handouts by other programs. There must be dialogue between the various NGOs and government entities working to fight malaria. I personally feel that it is better to sell the nets, that it will be perceived with greater value, that it is more likely to be used and maintained, that it will lead to consistent supply and greatest penetration.

They are aiming high looking to have 4-5,000 HealthKeepers covering all of Ghana. I'm excited to watch their business grow over the next couple years. As they say at FFH, Onward!

Concept Paper
Blog Discussion among HealthKeeper staff
Chat with field director

Vote for Scojo Microfranchise as a finalist at Changemakers

Scojo Vision Entrepreneurs has been selected as a finalist for the Disruptive Innovations in Health competition at Changemakers. I have highlighted Scojo on this blog as one of my favorites and know they are prominent examples in Micfranchise publications. Voting is open until August 29th.

The entry for Scojo also details their delivery model and financial model with a level of detail that is hard to find elsewhere.

I will also point two other microfranchise models that were not selected by the judges to be finalists. One is Freedom from Hunger's MicroBusinesses for Health for which I personally conducted early research. The other is Honey Care Africa which was one of my first posts.

Personal Note

I thought I'd share a personal success: my team was recently selected as a finalist in the Social Venture Competition at Brigham Young University. We will be presenting on Thursday in an effort to secure a portion of the $25,000 prize money. Our business is called Motu BioFuels and we are making biodiesel from coconuts and jatropha nuts in Tonga. Whether or not we win we are launching this summer. I've researched various case studies and conducted market research for other groups' social ventures, now it is my turn to get my hands dirty.

My Projects

In addition to posting findings of successful models I'll occasionaly talk about the projects I am currently involved with and invite discussion on the design and decision-making of the projects.

The first project is in rural Ghana and is trying to create a franchise that will sell health products to address the major health problems, with a particular emphasis on malaria. The franchisees will be women from microfinance village groups. The idea is that by buying in bulk and regulating the quality of products being sold in rural areas we, as the franchisor, can provide higher quality health products at lower prices than the current alternatives. We also hope the desire to make a profit will lead to greater 'salesmanship' of good health behaviors.

We plan on piloting a business at the end of this month.

I had given recommendations based on research with a team of graduate students from last summer but have yet to see a final business plan from the organization to know which recommendations they adopted. Once I see what they are actually doing then I can analyze their decisions in this forum.

The other microfranchise will create oil-press shops in Kenya and Tonga. The main source of oil will be jatropha seeds and coconuts. The pressed oil will be collected and turned into biodiesel. Brigham Young University's chapter of Engineers without Borders is designing the reactor and will help implement the project. A business plan for the oil-pressing franchise called Kijiji Oil in Kenya will hopefully be entered into the upcoming Social Venture Competition on campus.