FNB News - Franchise India's eleventh essay witnesses largest business networking

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Franchise India's eleventh essay witnesses largest business networking

Friday, 01 November, 2013, 08 : 00 AM [IST]

Our Bureau, New Delhi

The eleventh edition of Franchise India – one of the country's the largest franchise, retail and brand licensing shows – witnessed every business opportunity, ranging from franchising, retail, distribution, international franchising, consumer services, manufacturing, real estate and licensing, under one roof.

It brought over 150 speakers and over 1,000 delegates together. Its co-located seminar also featured multiple CEO Forums and an exclusive session with franchising tycoons to address and elucidate their views on the challenges faced in the global franchisee industry, to identify the right opportunities and the best ways to tap them.

The two-day event, which took place at New Delhi's Pragati Maidan recently, witnessed the participation of over 30,000 business investors from India and its neighbouring countries including Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and even from the Middle-Eastern nations.

This year, the show attracted about 40,000 business visitors from India and overseas, and saw the launch of over 85 international and 100 domestic brands in the Indian market. It showcased over 500 business concepts and about 10 new industries, which would also provide full-time and part-time entrepreneurship opportunities for both men and women.

Gaurav Marya, chairman, Franchise India, said, “Overall, Franchise India 2013 proved to be the definitive platform for networking between expert and potential franchise and licensing professionals to nurture dreams and build robust businesses. It was a platform for knowledge-sharing, brand launches, licensing and business opportunities.”

Entrepreneurship Summit
Big names in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, venture capital, business model creation, consultancy and academic application discussed economic trends, ease of setting up foreign businesses in India, policies that would benefit young entrepreneurs and high-growth sectors at the Entrepreneurship Summit, a key attraction at the event.

Eminent speakers at the summit included Vijay Mishra, chief executive officer, Birla Edutech; Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Capital; Dr Mukesh Batra, founder-chairman, Dr Batra's, Ashutosh Garg, managing director, Guardian Lifecare; Abhishek Ganguly, executive director, sales and retail, South Asia, Puma; Sandeep Katiyar, chief executive officer, Century 21; Naveen Raheja, chairman and managing director, Raheja Developers, and Rajesh Jain, chief executive officer and director, Lacoste India.

Strategic events
Franchise India 2013 also included two other strategic events – Brand Licensing India 2013 and The Franchise Master Class. While the former was the platform to collate knowledge, licensing opportunities and recognition under one roof, the latter was a part of the Franchise Knowledge Series, which aimed to provide actionable insights to all stages of franchise systems, including emerging, growing and mature franchisors.

Brand Licensing India 2013
Brand Licensing India 2013 sought to draw out a road-map for licensing, as well as highlight the key trends in this space. This thought leadership session also reviewed ways of innovatively adopting this strategy by Indian businesses.

The sessions were moderated by Charles Riotto, president, LIMA, and threw light on a variety of areas like key growth opportunities for licensing, shrinking product categories, the evaluation process and the relevant elements for a licensing programme, entertainment licensing, corporate and celebrity licensing, sports licensing and the many laws associated with licensing in India.

Those who shed light on these subjects included Michelle Minieri, president, Bradford Licensing; Akash Jain, senior director (business), National Basketball Association; Mahesh Gupta, chairman and managing director, Kent RO; Divya Pathak, director, marketing, Sony Pictures; Nitin Kalra, Director, South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Region, AI Licensing India; Jason Sutton, director, Polaroid; Mayuri Pitale, licensing manager (India), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and Abhishek Malhotra, advocate, TMT Law.

Franchise Knowledge Series
As a part of the Franchise Knowledge Series, Mike Adams, managing director, Franchise Asia Pacific, Sydney Area, Australia spoke on the building blocks of a strategic franchise business plan, the different stages of a franchisee's life and the different types of support needed during each stage.

Other speakers like Santosh Srivastava, managing director, Gitanjali Jewels; Yatin Chaddha, vice-president, retail business, Mahindra 1st Choice; Kinjal Shah, chief operating officer, Crossword Bookstores; Sudheesh Verma, head, retail and franchise, Green Gold Licensing and Merchandising; Nikhil Sama, founder and chief executive officer, SnapLion and P K Sinha, professor of retailing and marketing and chairperson, Centre for Retailing, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, elucidated the processes involved in building and sustaining a culture of accountability by financial satisfaction, best tools to audit franchisees financial performance scorecard, training in franchising and making multi-unit and multi-brand succeed by minimising brand overlap and maximising coverage.