International Franchise Association Names Healthstore Founder 2013 “Entrepreneur of the Year”

Scott Hillstrom, founder of the Healthstore Foundation and its flagship franchise network of Child and Family Wellness Clinics, was named 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year by the International Franchise Association (IFA).

The award recognizes visionaries who combine innovative ideas and management expertise to create successful franchise enterprises. 

Hillstrom co-founded the HealthStore Foundation in 1997 after studying the causes of health-related suffering and death among children in Africa.  Healthstore’s mission is to promote the use of the commercial franchise model to deliver more and better health care for less cost to the world’s poorest people—since the opening of the first clinic in 2000, the franchise has served more than 10 million people. 

Scott Hillstrom visits clinics in rural Kenya during a malaria epidemic in the late 1990s, when parents walked miles carrying sick children but could not find safe and appropriate drugs.

“Commercial franchising can do more to spare the world’s poor from needless suffering and death than just about any other method presently being attempted in the developing world,” Hillstrom told the IFA. 

“Hillstrom’s work to meld franchising with the delivery of basic health care to families in developing countries mirrors the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit of franchising,” the IFA announced. “By bringing together social sector franchising and commercial franchising, he has illustrated the positive impact of standardization to build a brand and address an urgent need.” 

“Healthstore’s franchise business model incentivizes health care providers to comply with standards of care necessary to effective health care in places where low-standards result in needless suffering and death.”

-International Franchise Association 2013 announcement