Filipino brands take lead in Asian franchise market

CEBU, Philippines — Filipino franchise consultants are confident that Filipino brands will further lead in penetrating franchise businesses in the ASEAN region, or the entire Asia at least in the next three years.

“Philippines is the leading country in ASEAN in franchising in terms of number of Franchisors, Franchisees and Franchising knowledge,” said Filipino International Franchise Association (FIFA) founder Rudolf Kotik adding that this leadership is expected grow even further as Pinoy brands are opening their businesses to explore the overseas market.

Asia-wide, the Philippines is closely competing with Indian brands, as business franchise within India is strong, which harder for Filipino companies to enter the fertile Indian market.

Likewise, Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) chairman emeritus Sammie Lim believes that in the ASEAN region capitalists are looking at food brands for franchise. Pinoy brands are gaining interest from entrepreneurs in this region, as well as Asia and the Middle East.

PFA for instance, has started its franchise roadshows within Asian region and the Middle East, including USA and Europe initially targeting the Filipino residents who may want to bring in Pinoy brands in their second home country.

“We are now becoming the franchise hub of Asia, where people come here to sell or buy or even learn franchising,” Lim said urging Filipino brands to be pro-active in setting their franchise offers to take advantage of this development.

Based on PFA record, there are now at least 30 Pinoy concepts/brands present overseas. This is expected to triple in number as more are getting interested to buy Pinoy franchise business.

According to Kotik, foreign entrepreneurs are drawn to buy Filipino franchise because of the country’s world-class franchise platform.

“At least in franchising, we are world class,” Kotik said. (FREEMAN)