Franchise & Retail Opportunities 2008 : Exhibition and Conference

The 13^th FRO (Franchise and Retail Opportunity show) took place in Chandigarh on June 19 and 20, 2008 at hotel Taj. The event organised by Franchise India Holdings Ltd (FIHL) in Chandigarh witnessed presence of more than 2,500 people including professionals at the expo. With over 50 companies participating in the two day expo, it was a win-win situation for the franchise companies and people looking to starting their own business. They were able to get detailed information of various companies in different sectors such as education and training, lifestyle and fashion retail, luxury retail and real estate sector.

Day One (Opportunity Day)

The conference started with the opening speech of Sachin Marya, CEO and publisher, Franchise India Holdings Ltd, on the franchising in the northern part of India. Further, discussions continued on topics like managing a franchise relationship by Arun Khetan, President, Educomp. Santosh Srivastava, CEO, Gitanjali and Vinayak Mahtani, Director, Vi-ga, Mahtani Fashion Pvt. Ltd, spoke about the jewellery and footwear retailing respectively. Later on, Shalini Gera, CEO, Chatak Chat and Lalita Raghav, GM, Events, FNP, spoke about Ferns and Petals and further businesses of the group.  Post-lunch, the conference saw R.K.Nanda, Managing Director, Nature’s Essence, talking about the role of women in expanding the business. Talking about the education, Russel Zaheer, Executive Director, Russel Education, gave insight of the need for spoken English. Gulraj Shahpuri, Managing Director, Education One, spoke about the need of training a child right from the childhood wherein the school education is not enough for an overall personality development.  The last speaker of the day was Erik from Eureka Forbes, who highlighted the important aspect of drinking pure water, specialty service as a business and choosing Smriti Irani as their brand ambassador.

Day Two (Knowledge Day)

The conference began with Col. Upendra Sachdev giving details to delegates on how one should evaluate a franchise and steps to be kept in mind before buying the desired franchise. Maj. K.V. Rajan, Executive Director, Veta, spoke about the English training in India and the model on which they run their business. Darpan Kapoor, Director, Kapsons and R. Laxmi Narayanan, CEO, REBI, came out with their views on how multiple outlets can be managed in an easy manner without any hassles. They also spoke on the role local employee plays in running a new venture. Post-lunch, Mohit Bhatia from Go Frugal Technologies gave the delegates an idea of how software and technology plays an important role at the back end and front end in retail sector and how it can be used effectively. Later on, Sachin Marya, CEO, FIHL, Rohit Malhotra, CEO, Real Tech Goup and R. Laxmi Narayanan, CEO, REBI, held a discussion on the availability of retail space and increasing rentals in the region and how much it affects the franchisee and franchisor.

The two day conference concluded on a high note, offering opportunity and knowledge to desired clients. The event played a crucial role in clearing the doubts and hesitations of existing and potential buyers.