Finding Impact

November 22, 2017/ Podcast

In this podcast (https://findingimpact.com/category/podcast/) hosted and produced by Finding Impact, we learn how the franchise model has made its way to social entrepreneurs in the form of a clean water company, Jibu, with Randy Welsch, Jibu’s Co-founder. Decades of entrepreneurship and investment in small enterprises led Randy to partner with his son to launch a bottled water franchise – a far cry from the world of software and satellite technology, where Randy concentrated most of his professional career.

This podcast sheds light on how the franchise model is working for Jibu, and we’ll learn more about:

The origin story behind Jibu, a father-son social enterprise that delivers clean water to bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers in Africa by iterating on the franchise model. Randy touches on pre-Jibu learnings during his consultancy with WorldVision, in addition to the small, private investments he made, that proved critical to Jibu’s launch.
How externally-led interventions fail communities and why local ownership is a game-changing approach to tackling poverty.
Why you might want to ignore the nay-sayers and confront prejudice against people in emerging markets, which are all-too-common attitudes among “experts” and expatriates working and living in BOP markets.
The importance of failure, why franchisees need to be bought-in to this mindset, and why Randy and his son started with a “20 ways to fail” list, which rose above 300, but never stopped them.
How Jibu built strategies for identifying local entrepreneurs that fit with the franchise model.
The specifics of Jibu’s franchise model from the perspective of the franchisee, from the contents of a Jibu store to territory management and how they build a franchisee pipeline.
The difference in attitude, energy and creativity between being an employee and a business owner.
How franchising builds collaboration and community rather than competition.
The structure of Jibu’s franchise model, including the responsibilities of the franchisor and the franchisee, and how the model may change as the company prepares for new country expansion.

Links to resources