A New Path to Entrepreneurship
Ninety per cent of Cambodia's poor live in rural areas, relying heavily on agriculture for their livelihoods, but the lack of irrigation and water control systems, poor seed quality and poor access to market information have prevented many of these people from earning enough to support their families through agriculture.
In response, iDE Cambodia developed a micro-franchise model for delivering high-quality agricultural inputs and technical advice to poor farmers through private Farm Business Advisors (FBAs). These Farm Business Advisors are independent micro-entrepreneurs trained by iDE to encourage and equip farmers to grow market-oriented crops. FBAs analyze individual farm enterprises to identify opportunities, which are then matched with products and services in the FBA toolkit. The toolkit includes a range of products and advice to farmers on reducing risk, improving productivity, and increasing income with improved seeds, fertilizer, irrigation equipment, pest control, and market information, among others. FBAs sell products at a profit, often on credit with payment due at harvest, and provide technical advice as an embedded service during return visits throughout the growing season. FBAs are recruited by iDE Cambodia, which acts as a central Franchisor enterprise. iDE does not pay salaries to FBAs instead providing services to them such as training, bulk purchasing power, credit access, market information, new product development, and promotion. iDE also ensures that specific standards for product and service quality are maintained by the FBAs. > View Photos
Video: iDE Cambodia Wins Inagural Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value
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