Franchising as a Career Option for Students

Are you a student, considering entrepreneurship? Have you not determined which business would really excite you? Are you the one that fears failing and do not have a strong conviction. Are you looking for an additional income source? Finding it difficult to locate a suitable job? Would you be considering bank funds to start your business? If you answered a YES to any of the questions. Then, franchising is a option you should consider. 

Franchising is a great option for entrepreneurship. Students should actively consider franchise opportunities to begin with. Some of the advantages in comparison to starting by themselves, is that they get an established brand, proven system, training, advertising assistance and a dedicated team that is committed to help make this work for you. I have heard it many times that 

Entrepreneurship (other than franchising) is for adventure seekers. It reminds me of the Mumbai - Pune visit, when needs to drive down from Mumbai to Pune, he has the option to take either the expressway or the Old Mumbai Agra Road. When one decides to take the expressway, he will come across marked roads, adequate road signs, designated food zones, re-fuelling stations and phone connectivity in case of any problems and for all of this he would have to pay a fee to get access to. Vis a vis, taking the old Mumbai Agra road, he may not reach on time, may encounter robberiers, may be delayed due to absence of all weather roads. The Mumbai Agra road, definitely sounds more like an adventure. (Ofcourse, on the flip side, franchising is definitely at a startup level, a more expensive proposition.

Read More

India Franchisee-Entrepreneur Workshop held on 12^th March 2010 
 

The wheels of justice turn very slowly in India, causing hardships to franchisees who can ill afford the cost of litigating in India’s Courts and sustain money, time and opportunity loss due to delaying tactics employed against them. Indian entrepreneurs are rather confused about franchise opportunities that exist. While some think a franchise opportunity is a business opportunity, others take it more like an investment or an opportunity to rent/lease out their real estate. Hence, it is essential to dispel such myths. 

Hemal Manek, Head – Network Development, Cartridge World South Asia, highlighted on the critical challenges in franchising in India and hence the need of such workshops for organized growth of franchising industry.

 

The India Franchisee Workshop aimed to explore and address Franchisee-StartUp Queries pertaining to Franchise Opportunities. Speaking at this event, Dhawal Shah, Founder, Maverick Franchise Ventures (MFV India) said that, 'Franchising in India is much lesser successful than the much touted 85 to 90% by the media, and one of the reasons is not having a holistic understanding of franchising, MFV India and Cartridge World is proud to organise such events and shall continue organising such events across India. After receiving a positive response in Mumbai, our next workshop is in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.' He made a brief presentation for the much successful and globally acclaimed, India Franchise Rankings. 

According to Naveen Rakhecha, CEO, Cartridge World South Asia ' Franchising is not a business in itself, it is a way of doing business. He highlighted that franchising requires specific expertise and how franchise evaluation process helps both the franchisor & the franchisee ’. Highlighting the Industry facts, he indicated that in India, the printer cartridges market which is pegged at over Rs 3000 crores and is growing at over 30% Year on Year. Cartridge World is well positioned as ‘OEM quality at an affordable price’ service provider to make the most of the opportunity.

 

Cartridge World which is only 3 years old in India is ranked 1st in its category and 29th best franchise opportunity in India (Rating by Way2Franchise.com) & Ranked 27 of the Top 100 Global Franchises (Rating by Franchise Direct) The Brand has already won 7 prestigious awards in its 3 year of operations in India.

Read More

The Business of Schools in India

Since, franchising is so very prevalent in education and training business, with english learning institutes, schools, preschools, colleges, vocational education, preparatory entrance examination coaching, after school programs, grooming institutes and so on. I visited India International Premier Schools exhibition at Nehru Centre last week. It seemed like the first, in its respective category. 

The schools business in India is fragmented, you have a few good schools in every town that are govt. aided / subsidised, it is quite competitive to get admissions, However since 2008,  the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has allowed allowed companies registered under the Companies Act to start private unaided schools In the primary and secondary education space, as a non-profit entity under Sec. 25. Since 2008, a lot of new fancy schools have come up, offering different curriculums, beyond the SSC (Maharashtra Pune board), CBSE, ICSE to IB and IGCSE. There are more than 200 Plus New Private International schools in India

At the India International Premier Schools The entry was restricted for parents only, there were about 20 to 30 companies participating, very few people visited the exhibition, although the exhibition was in its 6th edition. Not many new about the exhibition. Interestingly, none of the large corporate brands that are looking at aggressive expansion by franchising, were participating at the show, that includes Delhi Public School, Educomp, Eurokids and others. For specific business opportunities in education, it is better to attend smaller workshops, then to attend these large format exhibitions like the one in Mumbai

Today's children are tomorrow's future. That's why parents are investing in their children with educational activities along with supplement in-school learning. This exhibition also raised some pertinent issues as they arise in this time and era. Its the debate between residential school and 

Since, a lot of people are still to be aware of residential schools, here is some brief information. A residential school is one where students stay in the hostels and pursue their studies. They live in with fellow students. Some schools offer residence as an option for outstation students while in some others, availing the residence facilities of the school is compulsory. Residential schools essentially provide food and lodging for a specific fee. Varied number of students share rooms or dormitories and remain under the guidance of house master or house mistress or matron. 

In traditional convention schools, kids stay with their parents. Parents regularly take the time to teach and groom them about kids, life and religion. In a residential or a boarding school, parents cannot teach the kids about religion, since otherwise they would loose the secularity badge and students. Students also speak to teachers and counsellors, instead of parents, when they are confused or in dilemma. They will always stay away from their mother's home cooked food and parental love.

However, despite that, these residential schools have anything between 50 to 500 students as there are several parents with a nuclear family, working parents, busy schedules and no time, in some cases, single parents, divorced families. Hence, it does make sense for them to enrol their kids in residential schools and therefore these residential schools are doing good business, as for the schools business opportunity, they charge anything between, Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 13 Lakhs per student. 

India is one of the largest markets for the education business, thanks to the recent liberalisation, there will be more schools and to leverage that business opportunity, as an entrepreneur you can consider taking up a franchise.

Signing up for a Franchise, Its NOW or NEVER

All throughout, I have come across several, its NOW or NEVER opportunities, have never succumbed to it. I remember one of them was a personal self-improvement program, another was an appreciation referral network, I am sure the most common ones would be the time share programs, they get you all charged up and make you sign up with their holiday programs, only later to find out that this is not something that you were seeking, but it is probably too late.

Recently visited the Franchise India 2009 franchise exhibition in Delhi, came across several franchise opportunities, several of them were offering instant discounts for entrepreneurs that wish to sign up the same day for their business opportunities.

To avoid such situations, franchising activity is regulated in several countries, particularly in the US. To protect franchisee’s the law-makers have introduced something called the cool-off period. The cool off period is simply a period after signing the franchise agreement during which the franchisee has the right to back-off from the conditions of the franchise agreement without penalty.

Read More

Indian restaurateur describes her entrepreneurial experience

Hit by the recession, an India restaurateur revamps from scratch.

When I moved to New York City from Calcutta, I wasn't planning a catering career. I had come to earn a master's degree in lighting design from Parsons the New School for Design. But as a foodie, I was dismayed by the city's Indian eateries: The good ones were pricey, while the more affordable restaurants served two-day-old curries.

It didn't take a genius to spot a market opportunity for good, low-priced Indian food. I focused on Indian-style sandwiches, which few restaurants were offering. After graduating, I took night classes in restaurant management. In late 2003 I partnered with a former classmate, Rupila Sethi, to open the Indian Bread Co., a cafe in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. We sold flat breads stuffed with fillings or rolled like wraps -- an adaptation of traditional Indian street food.

Business was good from day one, and we soon began to provide catering services. In fact, we catered the Republican National Convention in 2004. But by the end of that year, Rupila wanted to move on to other projects, so I bought her out. Sales rose for the next several years, and I even started negotiations to franchise the cafe concept.

Then the recession hit. Business slowed, and the franchising deal fell through. In February 2009 cafe sales fell 25% to $9,689, from $12,873 a year before. But even though I was losing money, I refused to give up on a proven concept.

Seeking investors, I pitched my cafe to contacts in the restaurant industry. I took on two equal partners: Surbhi Sahni, a pastry chef at Devi, a top Indian eatery in New York City; and Rajiv Tanwar, a lawyer and restaurateur. Surbhi contributed sweat equity, helping me revamp the kitchen and change the menus. Rajiv invested $75,000, which we used to fund improvements.

Read More