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Martha Matilda Harper and the American Dream: How One Woman Changed the Face of Modern Business by Jane R. Plitt**

Who invented retail franchising? Ray Kroc? (No, he wasn’t even the founder of McDonald’s.) Henry Ford? (No, he didn’t even invent the automobile.) The answer will likely surprise you. Her name was Martha Matilda Harper, a Canadian-American woman who founded a chain of hair and beauty salons in 1891 and manufactured her own line of hair care and beauty products. At least that’s what author Jane R. Plitt claims in a mediocre biography about this amazing woman and business pioneer. Even after reading this book, it’s still not clear to me where Harper got the idea of franchising her hair salon or whether she was really the first to invent the franchise. Singer sewing machines had a franchising system forty years earlier, but it seems that the qualifier “retail” or “business model format” makes Plitt’s claim valid. In any case, it’s a shame that Martha Matilda Harper has been largely forgotten, considering her rags-to-riches story and important business achievements.