The ‘Non-profit, Non-loss’ business model introduced by Cameroon
Agenda for Sustainable Development (CASD) involves three parties: A development
organization such as CASD, a microfinance institution and a marginalized
community with profitable business potentials.
The development
organization works with the identified community to design a project that
generates income on one hand (for-profit) and uses the profit to finance non-profit goals (like heath and social
deliveries) for the community on the other hand. A micro-finance institution is
then contracted to fund the project on the basis that the profit would be
shared to refund the micro-finance, finance the charity aspect and sustain the
implementing organization. It’s a win-win. The community spends its resources
on a business that will return the resources in the form of social deliveries.
The micro-finance recovers all its money with time and the implementing
organization covers its costs. The
greatest secret of this approach is that, it can never fail since the consumers
also have a stake in the profit. They therefore patronize the business without
waiting for adverts.
