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With the weakening of the global market, franchising can be another business opportunity Filipino exporters can consider without necessarily abandoning exporting.
Samie Lim, chairman of the World Franchise Council (WFC), said many franchisors are now setting their sights on Asia amidst the current global economic slowdown particularly in the United States and Europe.
"For the next five years, they are looking at Asia and fortunately, the Philippines has prepared itself; we are ready," Lim said in an interview on the sidelines of the Franchise Asia 2011 recently held here.
The event brought together delegates from the member countries of the WFC and the Asia Pacific Franchise Confederation (APFC).
"The delegates, all of them were so impressed. The Philippines has the biggest malls in the world, people here are always smiling, everybody speaks English, they are young and they eat six times a day - that's a good market for them," he said.
With this, Lim said franchising can be an alternative venture particularly for exporters, as long as they will adopt the franchising model of expansion.
"They must stop thinking now: I want a buyer who wants to buy 20 containers for next year. They must think of the other dimension that is creating shops. Franchises are stores, shops have brands and designs," he said.
Lim said many exporters are already knowledgeable about the original equipment manufacturing (OEM), original design manufacturing (ODM) and original brand manufacturing (OBM).
"We should be displaying original Philippine designs. Franchising brought the third dimension called original brand manufacturing," he noted.
Lim reiterated his projections for the country's franchising industry which was seen to generate P50 billion in additional investments in the next three years.
"New franchise stores or restaurants I believe will generate about P200 billion additional sales revenues, meaning the government can take taxes (from that). And it will generate 125,000 jobs at least in the next five years," he said.
Apart from crisis-hit exporters, franchising can be also a business option for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) particularly those affected by political crisis in other countries.
However, Lim advised these OFWs to have fundamental know-how in managing a business.
During the franchise conference, the success story of Mang Inasal, a homegrown business, was among those highlighted.
It started as a single proprietorship in December 2003 by its founder, Edgar Sia II in Iloilo City. From scratch since it started in 2003, Mang Inasal has grown to 400 stores.
With the growth of the franchising industry, Lim gave credit to the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PHILEXPORT) for conducting a Philippine franchise masterplan funded by the United States Assistance for International Development (USAID). -- Danielle Venz, PHILEXPORT News and Features
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