MANG0: Hot franchise biz

WANTED: NEW FRANCHISEES. The Philippine Franchise Association wants to grow the country’s community of entrepreneurs through franchising. The “Franchise Negosyo para sa Cebu” expo, which runs from June 21 to 23, 2019 in Ayala Center Cebu, showcases various products and services that are open for franchising. (SUNSTAR FOTO / ARNI ACLAO)
WANTED: NEW FRANCHISEES. The Philippine Franchise Association wants to grow the country’s community of entrepreneurs through franchising. The “Franchise Negosyo para sa Cebu” expo, which runs from June 21 to 23, 2019 in Ayala Center Cebu, showcases various products and services that are open for franchising. (SUNSTAR FOTO / ARNI ACLAO)

THE country’s franchising industry continues to grow 20 to 30 percent every year as not only retirees and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) get attracted to invest but also millennials, an industry official said.

Samie Lim, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA), said there are now a variety of individuals who are interested to dip their toes in franchising.

He noted that one of the most interested are the retirees but the millennials are also catching up.

“When you retire, you get a lot of money and that’s what the franchisor is looking for, someone else’s money. When you retire, you have all the time in the world to do something else to keep busy,” said Lim, who is dubbed as the father of Philippine franchising.

“But young people now, found out that when they graduate they’d rather have a business and earn money than have a job. People getting married are also interested in starting a franchise business,” he added.

The PFA officials were in Cebu for the three-day “Franchise Negosyo para sa Cebu 2019” which opened on Friday, June 21, 2019 at the Activity Center of the Ayala Center Cebu.

Besides, the retirees and young professionals, OFWs working in southeast Asia are potential franchisees too.

Lim said they hope to attract the OFW communities in neighboring countries especially that Filipino franchise brands are now bringing their brands abroad.

“Whenever we go, we talk to the Filipinos in that country to see if they want to invest,” Lim said. Starting next week the PFA will visit Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Middle East to promote the country’s franchising industry.

Lim said in the previous years, trends on franchising were focused on shawarma and lemon. But now, everything about mango is becoming popular.

Mangoes are popular

“The biggest new franchise on the block is mango. There are six mango concepts coming up now,” he said.

In a separate interview, Rudolf Kotik, founder of RK Franchise Consultancy Inc., said entrepreneurs can capitalize on anything that is mango-related in business as appetite for mangoes is steadily rising globally.

He said companies that sell or produce anything with mango in it are now in demand in other countries and these are hot opportunities for possible franchising ventures.

Other rising business concepts are in healthcare and tourism.

Lim said medical services, particularly dialysis centers, are on the rise with the government pushing for the Universal Health Care Act.

“The government is now very aggressive in the Universal Health plan and it covers many expenses. In dialysis, for example, the government will pay for all your 100 sessions so many people are putting dialysis centers now because there’s really a shortage,” he said.

Tourism-related franchise concepts are also becoming a hit.

Lim said with the government going strong in fixing its arrival problems, new airports are being set up, which means more opportunities in tourism-related businesses.

“Our arrival has been stagnating because our airport is congested but now, once you open that bottleneck, more tourists will come in,” he said.

Increased consumer spending

The country’s franchising industry is expected to grow exponentially this year on the back of increased consumer spending brought about by strong economic growth.

PFA president Richard Sanz was quoted in a report saying that the increasing disposable income and consumer spending of the middle class is among the key growth drivers of the sector.

He also cited the dispersion of jobs into key cities outside Metro Manila, particularly in Laguna, Cebu, Iloilo and Bacolod.

“When you move around, a lot of demands are also there. You have the demand for the malls, for food, for services and that is what is driving the franchising growth,” he said in a report.

“And we saw this (trend) starting late last year. That is why our (growth) projection increased slightly.”

Total revenues of the franchising sector increased from US$22 billion in 2017 to US$25 billion in 2018, which was equivalent to seven percent of the country’s gross domestic product. (JOB with KOC)

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph