Franchise Business Development Services Nigeria (FBDS), an associate of International Franchise Association and representative of World Franchise Associates in Nigeria on Thursday 30th November 2017 organized a roundtable discussion on the strategic direction of “Nigeria 2018 Franchise Agenda”.
The roundtable was organized in collaboration with key industry stakeholders dedicated to the development of franchising in Nigeria and supported by World Franchise Associates as well as SA Franchise Warehouse, South Africa.
The roundtable updated the stakeholders on the progress of the growing Nigeria franchise industry, introduced the potentials of the micro-franchising concept in Nigeria and presented global case studies of success and impact of micro-franchising on the enterprise, social and economic development spheres that can be benchmarked, to the various stakeholders. In line with the theme of the event (“Building New Roads to Enterprise, Social and Economic Development through Franchising”), the discussants opined in unison that the potentials of franchising in Nigeria can be triggered via “micro-franchising”.
Accordingly, the convener of the roundtable Mr. Chiagozie Nwizu, Founder/Managing Consultant at FBDS noted that the industry has progressed in tandem with the vision of FBDS to make franchising development a front-burner agenda through its services, advocacies and interventions. The foregoing, can explain the DFID sponsored research conducted by FBDS titled: “The Potentials of Franchising in Nigeria”. Accordingly, this study has become a key reference point on franchising in Nigeria; a compilation of findings, opportunities, challenges and solutions to franchising in Nigeria. The study also featured the learning points from the historic growth of franchising in South Africa, India, UAE and USA, which formed the benchmarks for its recommendations of growth path for Nigeria franchise industry.
The South African community economic development expert and micro-franchising consultant Jayshree Padayatchey, whose organization is partnering with FBDS on implementation of the franchise agenda in her presentation, highlighted the importance of micro-franchising in sweating untapped potentials in a youthful vibrant emerging market like Nigeria as has been proven in other emerging and developed economies. She stressed that everyday people can be retooled and kitted to understand the importance of contracts, business growth, skill transfer and corporate governance through micro-franchising. He noted that micro-franchising will reduce the gap between formal and informal business sector in Nigeria.
The Keynote Speaker, The Hon. Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment represented by the Executive Director of Lagos International Trade-fair Management Board in her keynote Speech, commended the efforts of DFID and FBDS Nigeria for the franchise study which was presented to her office. She also applauded the efforts of FBDS while reiterating that convener’s agenda are consistent with the goals of the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment to diversifying the economy through non-oil sector growth, harnessing the export potentials of Nigeria while attracting FDIs into the country.
The diversification of the economy is the guiding principle behind DFID goal to “Impact the missing middle” that is highly dominated by the informal sector. Mr. Richard Sandall, DFID Nigeria’s Senior Private Sector Development Adviser viewed that “micro-franchising can be useful in scaling access to finance to help micro and small enterprises to build standards, among other needs in Nigeria.
Mr. Anayo Agu, the Special Adviser to the Governor of Enugu State on SMEs in his comments collaborated earlier shared views on micro-franchising. He however added that Enugu state government is looking forward to adopting the micro-franchise agenda in order to attract both local and international franchise brands to Enugu state. He noted that there are huge opportunities for successful big businesses in the State to franchise out segments of their businesses, creating opportunities for potential investors to venture and own businesses through franchising.
The Nigerian 2018, Franchise Agenda was proudly supported by reputable local and international organizations, and was attended by key stakeholders from the Private Sector, International Development Agencies and the Nigerian government. Some of the stakeholder institutions in attendance were NIPC, SMEDAN, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, Enugu State Government/SME Center, SA Franchise Warehouse South Africa, FATE Foundation, MTN Nigeria, UKAid, The US Trade Mission to Nigeria, among others
Having accomplished this phase, The Franchise Agenda for 2018; a compilation of franchise leveraged projects and initiatives have been developed and will be implemented by a collaboration of these stakeholders from January 2018. It is projected that the implementation of the agenda could help deliver over 100% growth across key economic growth indices in Nigeria by 2019.
