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.

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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.

First Pizza Inn restaurant Franchise opens in Bangladesh

Pizza Inn has continued its worldwide franchise expansion with the opening of its first location in Bangladesh. The USA-based pizza restaurant chain has opened its first Bangladesh franchise in the capital city Dhaka. The Bangladesh restaurant is owned and operated by the Pizza Inn Master Franchise Owner S.A.K. Edramuzzaman of Mohammed Food & Allieds Private Limited.

Charlie Morrison, CEO of Pizza Inn, said: "We're excited about our expansion into Bangladesh as well as the entire Asia and Middle East region. It is a pleasure to provide our freshly made pizzas, pastas and other popular menu items to the local residents at affordable prices in one of the largest restaurants in our system."

Each Pizza Inn restaurant provide customers with a variety of specialty and traditional handcrafted pizzas, pastas, salads and desserts in a dine-in buffet format with additional delivery and carryout options

Humayun Hyder, Project Manager for the Pizza Inn Bangladesh Master Franchise Owner, said: "It is with immense pleasure that we have opened the first Pizza Inn in Bangladesh and our opening was greeted with great coverage from the television and print media. The opening was inaugurated by the Honorable Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism of the Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh and attended by many of the country's elite and prominent businessmen." 

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Franchising and the Indian Preschool Industry

Though at a nascent stage, the Pre-school industry in India with a current estimated size of Rs 7000 crores, is expected to top $ 1 billion by 2012, clocking a growth of over 28 percent per year. And taking advantage of this huge growth opportunity, most of the players are out to scale up their operations through the franchise route. There is a huge growth opportunity in the sector and most players have scaled up their operations through the franchise route. 

By Priyanka Kapoor

As three-year-old Sanika’s parents shifted from Gurgaon to Bangalore, her mother’s biggest concern was putting the child in a pre-school similar to her last one. Much to her relief she found exactly the same one. With pre-school franchises growing across the country, life has become much easier for young parents with transferable jobs. “My biggest concern was that Sanika should not feel uprooted and alienated,” says Sanika’s mother Nidhi Pandey, a housewife. “Since she was used to the toys, classroom set-up and general ambience in her previous pre-school there was not much issue settling down here.”

Playschools, popularly known as pre-schools cater to children between the age of one and a half and four years, the time when children are too young to start formal education. The concept of pre-schools is relatively new in India, but the trend is fast growing due to increasing awareness about the fact that about 40% of a person’s ability to learn is developed in the first four years of his life. It is an environment which imparts a smooth transition to a child from informal homely atmosphere to a formal schooling set-up and hence passion and care are two most important ingredients of this segment.

The transition, too, has been relatively painless for the operators behind these franchises. In several cases, these franchisees are housewives looking to gain fully utilize their time. Unlike schools that run from nursery to class 12, which largely are mandated by states to be run by non-profi t trusts, pre-schools can be set up as profi t companies. And with increasing awareness among parents about the benefits of a quality preschool education, the school chains and creches, are reportedly turning profi table within the first year—quite uncommon in the franchise model.

Lina Ashar, founder of Brainworks and Kangaroo Kids Education, elaborates,“This is a critical period in a child’s life when specific types of learning take place. The brain is especially receptive to stimulation in the area of language, for example, during the first three years. Therefore, children that are exposed to speech (talking, reading, singing, etc) on a regular basis, exhibit language skills that far exceed those with little verbal stimulation.” Lina, along with many specialists in the educational fi eld are now pitching this concept and stressing towards the importance of pre-schools in a child’s life. Even parents are realizing the signifi - cance of building a foundation for their kids, thanks to tough competition with regards to school admissions.

They no longer go for any neighborhood play school or day care center but are on the lookout for a pre-school with a reputed name and infrastructural facilities for their child’s overall development. Several pre-school chains have already opened up in the past few years to cater to the growing need. But with around 126 million children expected to be in the age group of 0 to 4 by the end of this year, the demand for pre schools in the organized segment may well soar like never before.

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New budget hotel brand for Middle East 

Middle East hotel brand Layia Hospitality is set to roll out a budget hotel chain called Day & Night Hotels, Travel Daily UK can reveal. The Dubai-based firm has already signed an agreement with CAPM Investment PrivJSC to roll out five of the three-star properties in Abu Dhabi over the next five years. Layia Hospitality CEO Daniel Hajjar said the firm was currently seeking investors to roll out properties across the Middle East, with the expectation of opening 12-15 Day & Night Hotels in the next seven to eight year. “We are already talking to a company about opening a property in the Jadaf area of Dubai,” said Hajjar. 

“We are also looking at Saudi Araiba, Kuwait, Egypt and Syria.” Hajjar said the three-star concept would adhere to five-star standards in terms of the quality of beds, fixtures and fittings. “We won’t be stingy regarding the size of the room – it will be around 25m² to 32m²,” he said. “Plus we’ll have good-sized work stations, good showers and ergonomic chairs.” The target market, he added, was young trendy executives in the 25 to 40 age bracket who wanted to “come into the room and plug in their iPods”. 

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Mango’s new India strategy: open five new stores, rework pricing

Mango, the well known Spanish brand, known worldwide for its nightwear, casual wear, and sportswear among others is now aggressively looking at a global expansion plan. The brand plans to open three new stores a week all over the world in the coming year. At the moment, the brand has 1,392 stores across the world. “Spain is our biggest market with 280 stores, followed by France, with a 100 stores,” says Isak Halfon, Executive Vice President, International Franchise & Expansion, Mango.

The Rs 10,000 crore global company entered India in 2001, with a franchisee partnership with Major Brands. This year, Mango is looking to add five new stores in India. “These will come up by the first half of 2010. We are looking at Mumbai, Kolkata and Chandigarh for these stores. At Rs 50 crores, India contributes only .47 per cent of our global business. With these five new stores, we hope to reach Rs 100 crores this year,” says Halfon.

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Cartridge World announces Bill Edmiston Chief Development Officer

Cartridge World, the world’s fastest growing ink and toner remanufacturing retailer and franchisor, announces the appointment of Bill Edmiston as Chief Development Officer. 

Edmiston, who most recently served as Senior Vice President at Gordon Biersch International, will work closely with the company’s network of master franchisees to help sell Franchise stores throughout the United States. Reporting directly to CEO Tom Fricke, Edmiston will assume primary leadership over efforts to continue the rapid expansion of the Cartridge World system, as well as the development of a National Account Program. 

“We are pleased to welcome Bill Edmiston to Cartridge World at a time when the company is poised to further cement its position as a leader in the $80 billion printer cartridge industry,” said Tom Fricke, CEO of Cartridge World. “As a respected veteran in the franchise industry, Bill will play a crucial role in leading our development efforts that will help drive and grow our business.”

A seasoned franchise professional, Edmiston brings more than 30 years of international and domestic experience in operations, development, licensing and real estate selection to Cartridge World. He has previously held various positions with some of the franchise industry’s more widely recognized brands such as Rock Bottom Restaurants, Einstein’s Bagels and Boston Market, including a stint as Vice President at Blockbuster Entertainment Group during the company’s heavy growth years bringing them from 19 to 4,200 units worldwide.  

According to Edmiston, Cartridge World’s reputation, the quality of its leadership and the talent of its people is next to none. “I couldn’t be more excited about joining such a dynamic brand and my new role in enhancing a franchise system that is already positioned for continued growth and success,” he added.  

About Cartridge World

Emeryville, CA – based Cartridge World is the world’s fastest growing ink and toner refilling retailer and franchisor in the $80 billion printer cartridge industry. The company refills and remanufactures inkjet and toner printer cartridges, using state-of-the-art processes and high quality inks and toners.  It offers consumers and businesses a more affordable option to buying new, provides a 100 percent satisfaction money-back guarantee and helps the environment by keeping cartridges out of landfills.  Voted #1 in the category of toner replacement services by Entrepreneur Magazine Franchise 500 for 2010, Cartridge World has more than 1,700 franchised retail locations in 61 countries.

Tata Jagriti Yatra Day 1

Day 1 at TJY

I have never been so excited as much as I have been for this trip, I have awaited TJY since almost over a month, since I was shortlisted. We were called at 8 am at Ravindra Natya Mandir, staying in Mumbai, gave me a little comfort. I reached about at 9 am, met over 400 vibrant young men,We exchanged ideas. We had breakfast, got done with the formalities and it was lunch time. Then finally we were inducted into the process and institution. TJY is an initiative of Jagriti Sewa Sansthan, a non-profit instituted by Mr. Shashank Mani. I went through the notes and the handbook, a part of the Yatri Kit.

And the excitement just kept growing. Post lunch, Ms. Rewati Prabhu and Mr. Shashank Mani presented about how it all began and introduced the 3^rd edition of TJY. The mammoth TJY event is organized by a skeleton team of about 8.

We practiced the Jagriti Geet. More on that a little later.

Recalling, when I met an enterprising young man at an entrepreneurship summit in New Delhi, explaining me more about this event, I could never imagine, that this is how exciting it is going to be. This was the TIE Entrepreneurship Summit way back in October 2007, when Swapnil introduced me to TJY.

I feel that Franchising in 2010 will be a lot more inclusive, just thanks to social franchising and its outlook.

During the networking break, I met with a lot of people, explaining what is franchising, what is our business model and so on. By the end of the day, I had already learned how-to-simplify-it. It just helps you get your ideas clearer.

I was just regretting all the people that could not join me for the trip, namely my friends and colleagues. TJY is a great event, the audience mix is more of students (potential entrepreneurs) than actual entrepreneurs, between the age of 20 and 25. I met a lot of engineers during these days.

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The year 2009: Learnings as an Entrepreneur

2009 has been a great year for me and Way2Franchise.com, we went through a ride, a very exciting one, just like the Revenge of The Mummy Ride, I experienced at Universal Studios Park at LA. Thrilling, Exciting and exasperating, little do you realise that it would get over in the flashes of flashes. The roller coaster analogy can be better applied of what we went through in earlier in 2009, one morning we wake up and we feel our idea can change the world, the next day, we feel doomed. 

Some of the brief learnings, just penning it down: 

If you say what you mean and mean what you say, you are probably in the 10% of all people. This is what your clients would appreciate. A candid approach did get a lot of people excited and encouraged them to contribute thoughts and idea. Honesty pays and pays in leaps and bounds

Make an offer, that they cant refuse:  Our online business is all about sales, in fact for most businesses it would be the driving force or the life blood. It is difficult when you are a startup to get new customers interested. We tried out a free 50 Franchisee leads offer. Franchisors are always looking for qualified leads, clients pay as much as Rs. 1000 for every  qualified lead, here is it that you get a value of Rs. 5000. 

Small is still Beautiful is more than a book: We started off with over 18 competitors in our business and each one of them had an average team of 35. Can Small be beautiful, absolutely? Team size has nothing to do with success. A team of 4, thinking unanimously of enhancing the entrepreneur experience can mean a lot than a team much bigger, with deep pockets trying to do everything for everybody. 

Thoughts do become reality: The power of Secret comes alive, when you simply believe it. We believed we can offer a better solution, today, Thank Goodness, Way2Franchise.com and FranchiseExpo.in have catapulted to #2 Position. All of the hard work does pay off. In the past, during my previous stint with Franchising Association of India, I took up ownership and took an active interest, a lot of times, people advised me, is that really your company, but I kept going and now I realise that some of my smallest learnings are paying rich dividends. confirming that no effort ever gets wasted. 

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