As is the case across the neighborhoods of America, every community around the third world is blessed with a number of very talented people who work tirelessly at whatever they have to do to better themselves and their families. Some are able to transmute their skills and talents into small businesses, which eventually get their families out of extreme poverty; most, however, simply lack the vision or financial and logistic resources to make this dream a reality.
3VC’s goal is to identify these individuals and give them the opportunity to become successful micro-entrepreneurs by pairing them (according to their skills, experience, aspirations, and market) with one of our microfranchises. Our panoply of microfranchises, pragmatic for third-world communities and entrepreneurs, allows 3VC to focus on working with micro-entrepreneurs on the implementation of known, replicable business models instead of endless evaluations of prospective start-ups.
We are not in the microcredit business, even though we admire people like Bangladeshe banker and 2006 Nobel Laureate, Muhammed Yunus, for proving that lending small sums of money to the poor not only makes good business sense (Grameen Bank, founded by Yunus in 1976, has lent more than US$5.1 billion to 5.3 million borrowers) but also allows the poor to help themselves out of extreme poverty.
We are not in the business of inventing micro-businesses either, instead, we seek to emulate and perfect what is already working in the third world. We canvas the world looking for replicable business models. We'll also acquire master franchises if available exclusively for our territories, and, occasionally, we'll fund entrepreneurs with business models which we believe have the potential to succeed and become part of our family of franchises.
3VC is a for-profit organization, but with the higher altruistic goal of establishing a network of microfranchises across the third world that creates successful micro-entrepreneurs, provides employment, and brings life-changing products and services to the communities they serve. We make our profits from franchise royalties, charged on a percentage of sales, and from small mark-ups on products and services supplied to our microfranchisees.
We deliver turnkey businesses to our micro-entrepreneurs, but they must contribute their sweat equity to get the businesses launched. But we seek to give 3VC entrepreneurs even more. Borrowing a page from Wendy Kopp's Teach For America, 3VC’s affiliate Entrepreneurs For The World will provide an army of recent graduates from top universities throughout the world and other successful entrepreneurs seeking the personal satisfaction of devoting six months to a year of their professional career to help, on a full time basis, 3VC entrepreneurs succeed in their businesses. 3VC entrepreneurs also become part of a network designed to help, support and leverage each other.
3VC is now being established in El Salvador, the founder's country of birth, and eventually it will expand throughout the Caribbean.
As an altruistic business, it is also anticipated that certain micro-entrepreneurs might not qualify for 3VC's capital but yet have a business of compelling social importance. In this case, it will be referred to The Suarez Foundation for a micro-grant consideration. 3VC, Entrepreneurs For The World, and The Suarez Foundation have been conceived by social entrepreneur, Jose A. Suarez whose biographical information can be found here.
