Stephen W. Gibson
Co-Founder, Academy for Creating Enterprise
gibsw@aol.com

Tony SanGabriel
Managing Director, Academy for Creating Enterprise
joansaga@yahoo.com

Scott Hillstrom
Founder & CEO, Sustainable Healthcare Enterprise Foundation (SHEF)
scott@cfwshops.org

“MicroFranchise: The Real Deal in MicroEnterprise Development”

Presentation Abstract:
MicroCredit is often considered the magic bullet in eradicating poverty through helping finance small MicroEnterprise among women in both remote villagers and urban settings. Often times these women double or triple their income, however most fail to “scale” beyond hiring one or two family members. In today’s presentation, we review valuable lessons learned from the MicroCredit model. Then using case studies from both the Philippines and Africa, we will illustrate the sustainability and scale achieved through using the powerful MicroCredit techniques, coupled with business education, and implemented with the proven Franchise model. We will show that the franchise concept is also revolutionizing delivery of healthcare products and other vital services. We will also show practitioners how, by using a Franchise model, they can now have men as well as women as clients. We will also argue that the model capitalizes on cultural behaviors rather than forcing cultural change.

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Biography:
Stephen W. Gibson eats, drinks, invests in, and writes about entrepreneurship. He has started nine companies and been a partner in a dozen more. He and his wife Bette moved to Provo in 1994, shortly after selling their Inc. 500 regional oxygen firm to a national public company. For the last seven years, Mr. Gibson, as a volunteer at the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship, has helped build it into one of the nation’s top 25 Centers for Entrepreneurship. He currently teaches Entrepreneurship at BYU and is helping grow entrepreneurial programs at BYU-Hawaii, BYU-Idaho, and LDS Business College. In 1999, he and his wife moved to the Philippines and founded The Academy for Creating Enterprise to help Filipino returned missionaries become self-reliant through starting and growing small micro-enterprises. In excess of 300 businesses have been started by the 500 graduates of the eight- week resident program. The school continues to be financed by the Gibsons and a growing group of U.S. and Filipino donors. It is now completely run Academy graduates.

Jose Antonio T. San Gabriel (Tony) is currently the Managing Director of the Academy for Creating Enterprise in Cebu Philippines. The Academy teaches Filipino returned missionaries to start and grow micro-enterprises. It now has 551 alumni with 5 having achieved their first million annual net income since the Academy stated in 1999. In addition, Tony is part owner and Vice Chair of Cellular City Distribution Company that supply to 15 Cellular City Retail Franchise outlets in the southern part of the Philippines. He sits in the Board of Westernwats Center Philippines, an American Call Center Company based in Cebu City Philippines with 200 employees. Since 2001, Tony has worked as an Adjunct Professor at the Brigham Young University Hawaii Campus. In addition, Tony worked as Program Manager of the Philippines Enterprise Development Foundation (PEDF) from 1991 to 1996 until he became Executive Director in 1997-1998. PEDF is an Enterprise Mentors affiliate in Manila Philippines involved in Micro-finance. He obtained a Masters’ Degree in Development Management at the Asian Institute of Management, Manila Philippines.

Scott D. Hillstrom, J.D., co-founded the Sustainable Healthcare Enterprise Foundation in 1997. Prior to returning to the U.S. in late 1998, Scott resided in New Zealand for three years while carrying out business activities in New Zealand, the United States, and Europe. He is presently CEO of Guardian Law Group, a U.S. based law and business advisory firm advising businesses and investors. Scott continues to participate actively in various businesses in the fields of healthcare, technology and New Zealand real estate. Previously, he co-founded and served as Managing Director and General Counsel of Rehab One, Inc., a rehabilitation physician network in the United States and spent five years as managing partner of Hillstrom & Bale, Ltd., a commercial law firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Scott also served for approximately ten years as the CEO of Steiger International, an international youth ministry, and has been actively involved with social and humanitarian activities for the past 25 years.