ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

Franchising has proved, over the years to be one of the most successful ways of conducting business. In both developed countries and emerging markets, franchising has been effective in ensuring business growth with private ownership and skills transfer. It has generated new incomes leading to improved standards of living for the population. In particular, for new businesses/start-ups and SMEs franchising can be viewed as a means of nurturing and developing entrepreneurial talent, promoting good corporate governance and transparency and attracting the informal sector business to the formal sector.

To the end of replicating the success and impact of franchising at other countries in Nigeria, key role player in Nigeria economic, entrepreneurial and social development space will be meeting on November 30th 2017, at Fate Foundation, Lagos Water House, Ijora, Lagos, to discuss the 2018 Nigeria Franchise Agenda. A team of foreign and Nigerian experts, along with key economic decision makers will be discussing: Enterprise, economic and social development opportunities for Nigeria through franchising. They will also be exploring case studies on how other economies are building new roads to development through Micro franchising.

Organizers are Franchise Business Development Services Nigeria, an associate of International Franchise Association and World Franchise Associates; and SA Franchise Warehouse South Africa, A member of Franchise Association of South Africa, in partnership with other key Foreign and Nigeria franchise industry stakeholders

KURT ILLETSCHKO

Mr. Kurt Illetschko, is a franchise veteran who played a key role in development of franchising in South Africa and was the pioneer president of South Africa Franchise Association (FASA); a contributing consultant to the Nigeria Franchise Study; a proponent of the Microfranchising concept; and co-author of “Microfranchising, tool for social and economic development”. He will lead a discussion on implementing results from global economic impact of franchising, in Nigeria.

CHUKWUKA MONYE

Mr. Chukwuka Monye is an Innovation Strategist and Managing Partner of Ciuci Consulting, an advisory firm that has impacted several enterprises through over 200 projects in 10 years. He is also the Director General of the Delta Economic Summit Group, a private sector led social impact think tank. He obtained his post graduate degrees from the University of Oxford and other business education from institutions such as Warner University, USA; INSEAD, France and Harvard, USA.

BRENT OMDAHL

Mr. Brent Omdahl is the Commercial Counselor to the U.S. Mission to Nigeria and manages the daily operation of the U.S. Department of Commerce office. His primary role is to assist U.S. firms to grow their exports and investments to Nigeria and West Africa and advocate on behalf of U.S. firms to the Nigerian government. Prior to serving in Lagos Brent was the sub-Saharan Africa Deputy Regional Senior Commercial Officer in Johannesburg, South Africa and Acting Director of the Atlanta, Georgia U.S. Export Assistance Center. Brent is a Master’s graduate of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Brigham Young University. He was an experienced franchise investor.

RICHARD SANDALL

Mr. Richard Sandall is DFID Nigeria’s Senior Private Sector Development adviser, working on financial inclusion and market development. Richard has recently returned to Nigeria to take up this post, having worked for the World Bank 2009-13 on joint DFID/World Bank economic development programmes. He spent the intervening four years working on agribusiness and youth skills in Uganda.

ANAYO AGU

Mr. Anayo Agu is the Special Adviser to the Governor of Enugu State on Small and Medium Enterprises. He holds degrees in management and international marketing, and certificates in commercial diplomacy, entrepreneurship, franchising and business development. He played pioneering roles in developing and growing Nigerian-American trade relations, and the emerging Nigerian franchising market through trade shows, seminars, outreaches, and advocacy. For over two decades, he managed a wide range of core projects at the U.S. Commercial Service at the U.S. Mission in Nigeria.

HON. SYLVESTER OGBAGA

Hon. Sylvester Ogbaga is a two-term member of the Federal House of Representatives, representing Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency of Ebonyi State. He is also the Chairman House Committee on Commerce; the committee supporting the franchise bill, to facilitate an enabling environment for franchising in Nigeria. He has shown consistent legislative interest and support for youth development, job creation and education.

ADENIKE ADEYEMI

Adenike Adeyemi is the Executive Director for FATE Foundation, a leading non-profit focused on enabling entrepreneurship and scaling businesses in Nigeria. She has a B.A in Linguistics, an M.A in International Relations and a Masters of Public Administration.

CHIAGOZIE NWIZU

Chiagozie is the Founder and Managing Consultant of Franchise Business Development Services; a pioneer franchise development company in Nigeria representing World Franchise Associates, and advancing the development of Nigeria franchise Industry. He is an International Franchise Development Consultant, SME Advisor, Enterprise Builder & Developmental Projects Expert. From years of experience working with local and international stakeholders supporting and building the Nigeria SME sector, Chiagozie is on a mission to making franchising the preferred business venture model in Nigeria, as a strategic means of building sustainable businesses that operate best practices.

CHARLES ANYANWU

Charles Anyanwu is The Head, SME at Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, where he is responsible for strategy, product and programme development and implementation of the loan scheme for SME beneficiaries. Over the years, working with other reputable organizations like The Tony Elumelu Foundation and AGDC Employability and Enterprise Devt Ltd/GTE, he had played lead roles in implementing social entrepreneurship and economic impact initiatives in Nigeria. Charles is a certified project manager with wide range experience in developing and implementing youth-centric Corporate Social Responsibility projects across Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.