ALMATY – Two dozen Kazakh companies that provide franchising opportunities participated in the KazFranch 2013 exhibition here in December.
The event was organised with support from Baiterek National Holding, the Damu Enterpreneurship Development Fund and the Eurasian Franchise Association. In general, franchising is the selling of a ready business; they are offered primarily by foreign companies. The current exhibition presented only domestic franchises.
“Our task is to promote Kazakh businesses that create brands and pack and sell them as franchises,” Damu chairwoman Lyazzat Ibragimova said while commenting on the area of business that Kazakhstan is in the process of entering.
Textiline, a participant of the Business Roadmap programme, presented itself at the exhibition. The company displayed a new collection of children’s clothing titled “Legend of the Steppes”. It is promoted using its own name throughout Kazakhstan; the company has already sold 15 franchises in the regions.
The Sunkar Medical Centre, which is also subsidized through the “Business Roadmap” programme, sold two franchises in Kazakhstan and is now preparing a deal in Russia. Another interesting example is the Red Dragon Project. This Almaty company is confidently gaining share in the domestic catering market and has already sold two franchises in the cities of Rostov- on-Don and Krasnoyarsk.
In general, for Kazakhstan’s economy, said Ibragimova, the expertise these businesses acquire in their evolution is invaluable. This prevents those who purchase a franchise from repeating the errors of others and allows operators to start a new business under their partner’s well established name.
The exhibition hosted small franchises too. For example, the consulting company Roznitsa.kz has already sold retail franchises in the region. The company provided advice to Textiline. The exhibition also presented the Zhas Kemenger training company and a net of “Chekhov” cookeries.
“The purpose of the exhibition was to gather entrepreneurs who are not involved in oil and gas in one place and try to sell their business models. We also held a round table on the problems and prospects of the development of franchising. One of the main topics discussed was the problem of financing the purchase of franchises. There is a large field of activity for our fund here. I think specialized products should be developed for these purposes. This would be relevant in terms of promoting Kazakhstan producers,” emphasised the chairwoman of the fund.
Franchise development issues, including protection of intellectual property, were discussed during the forum’s master classes, thematic presentations and brand demonstrations.
The organisers of KazFranch 2013 promised to create a roadmap for the development of the domestic franchising sector.
