Many franchises support charity and community causes. But a
handful of new franchises are taking the idea of giving back a step
further by helping others not as a side project, but as their
primary mission.
Through their training and consulting businesses, Darcie Harris
and Julane Borth became familiar with peer advisory forums. While
they knew the benefits of these forums, they also knew it
wasn't always easy for women to join these kinds of groups.
"The criteria for membership for most of those forums are so
high that most women business owners do not qualify for
membership," Harris says. "Most women tend to start their
businesses a little later in life, so there are many viable, strong
businesses run by women that don't have the 50 employees or the
$5 million in revenues it takes to participate."
To remedy this situation, Harris and Borth founded EWF (Executive
Women's Forum) International LLC, a peer advisory forum for
women business owners and executives. Unlike other forums, business
size and titles aren't of paramount importance for membership.
"We look for women who indicate an interest in professional
development and personal growth," Harris says.
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Harris and Borth began facilitating peer advisory forums in
Oklahoma City in 1998 and started offering franchises in 2002 to
provide its services in other regions. Franchising works better
than using local managers, says Harris. "[Because] the client
base is primarily female entrepreneurs, they need to see the woman
who is creating and facilitating the group as [one of them],"
Harris says. "That [franchisee] needs to be a business owner
herself to truly understand what it's like to be in the mind of
a female business owner."
Overall, helping women run their businesses is what EWF is all
about. "Our mission is to help women discover, articulate and
achieve their version of success," Harris says.
While EWF works with women who already have businesses, Employ
America helps people get their start in the business world by
reducing the cost of franchising. Founder Herb Davis says that
through Caboto's Associated Food Services Inc., a St.
George, Utah, mobile and fixed food franchise, Employ America
offers affordable businesses to women, minorities and people
"who live from paycheck to paycheck and feel they could never
dig their way out."
"We did an analysis of the top 200 franchises in the United
States and found the average [person] can't afford the average
franchise," Davis explains. "That was a little
disheartening." To help these potential franchises overcome
financial hurdles, the Caboto's system has a lower start-up
cost and no royalties. The franchisor makes its money by selling
franchisees products rather than charging fees.
Eventually, Davis would like to expand the Employ America
program to other franchises. "I want to make sure all the
logistics are worked out first, so there are no hiccups," he
says. "Then the plan is to go out to other franchises and say
'Let us represent you in an Employ America
program.'"
Regardless of which companies offer Employ America, Davis is
clear about what this program should ultimately achieve.
"Employ America is about giving people the opportunity to take
control of their destiny and not worry anymore about whether
they're going to be one of the millions of people who were laid
off in the last year with no place to go."