HANDS has initiated a unique concept of Business in Box…. This is a step to strengthen the livelihood source and to extend the convenience for the community. This is an idea to provide business to our community based women workers to ensure the availability of daily health and hygiene related, in addition to grocery items. This has directly created a positive impact on women empowerment and convenience of the community on easy accessibility of daily use products.
In this social Franchise model HANDS provide initial one time grant to the woman for the bulk purchases for the shop. Women sell the commodities and earn profit and repurchase the required products from the identified local supplier.
Marvi Social Franchise Mode
The average cost of expenditure to establish a BiB center is approximately PKR. 16800 per BiB shop. The reports depict that on an average each worker earns or save about PKR 3000 to 3500/month
Micro-entrepreneurship, as an empowering approach can help rural women leave the poverty trap while providing reproductive health access to households in remote areas. As a model of socially responsible micro-franchising, BiB allows communities to co-produce pathways to satisfy their immediate social, economic and health-related needs. The flexible and adaptive mechanism offers rural women the opportunity to tap into their entrepreneurial potential by engaging with those community members who do not have sufficient means, knowledge or resources, as in the case of maternal health.
BiB has leveraged a fusion of micro-franchising and community-based co-ownership and support. Its design is scalable, adaptable, and can provide high social impact, including women’s economic participation and opportunity for development interventions to improve the livelihoods of the poor in deprived rural and remote locations, the above stated case is clearly elaborating the success rate of the initiative. Following are some expression of Marvi’s.
Azra Bano (A Marvi worker for Muzaffarabad):
This intervention of business in box has proved as a blessing for us and our family as we are now able to earn better earning and is successfully uplifting our living standards.
Rakhi Bai (A beneficiary from Umerkot):
Previously we had to go to city center to purchase any of the basic medicine or any ration even in case of emergency…but due to this BIB shop we are much obliged to HANDS that we can purchase thing in our vicinity without spending the money on the transportation to the city.