Social microfranchise Serving the community: JIBU model is a "solution"

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly important for the franchise business model. Social franchising is a useful strategy for growth and sustainability of social enterprises based on practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The paper starts from the basic assumption that global social goals can be achieved by using social microfranchise as a modern form of franchise business. Social microfranchises combine benefits and social goals of a social franchise and a microfranchise, while providing the necessary products and services to the poor and creating business opportunities for the poorest in the community. The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of social franchising and microfranchising as new forms of franchising that contribute to the wider community, focusing on the business example of Jibu social microfranchise operating in Africa and its global social impact. There are two key challenges facing developing countries in Africa: access to safe drinking water and high unemployment. Our research has shown that Jibu helps address both challenges by training local entrepreneurs to create a network of franchise units that provide permanent access to drinking water, which can have positive implications for solving other social problems of local communities in many underdeveloped and developing countries.

Keywords

• social entrepreneurship
• social franchising
• social microfranchising
• jibu
• drinking water