The Ninth Malaysian Plan (9MP) to be unveiled this week is expected to include an allocation to promote the franchise business in Malaysia.
Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development, Azmi Abdullah said the allocation will exceed the RM50 million provided in the Eighth Malaysian Plan.
“The allocation is for financial assistance, management courses as well as consultation assistance for entrepreneurs in both local and foreign franchise,” he said during the launch of McDonald’s franchising opportunity event in Mutiara Damansara here, Tuesday.
Azmi said the government was aiming to see an additional 50 franchisors from the current 251 franchisors in the country.
Of the 251 applications approved in February this year for the franchise business, a substantial portion was from the food related business, he said.
Meanwhile, the executive vice president of McDonald Malaysia, Ng Su Onn said McDonald Malaysia was aiming to expand its franchise scheme in Malaysia.
“We are aiming that 60 percent of our restaurants in Malaysia will be franchise based,” he said.
Ng said the franchise concept in Malaysia for McDonald was still relatively untapped compared with most other McDonald restaurants in other countries where independent local business people operated over 70 percent of the McDonald’s restaurants worldwide.
“Currently, two franchisees are engaged by McDonald’s Malaysia to operate six of its restaurants in East Malaysia, while five new potential franchisees are undergoing intensive training at selected restaurants,” he said.
“In most developed countries, the franchise scheme is a huge success but in Malaysia it is still at its growing stage. We provide intensive training for Malaysians with the financial capability to start the McDonald’s franchise business,” he said.
“We are aiming to have a total of 178-180 restaurants in Malaysia by the end of the year within the busy business hub centres such as Klang Valley, Penang, Johor and Perak,” he said. He said McDonald has sailed through some very challenging economic journeys in Malaysia since the Asian financial crisis.
“Since the Asian financial crisis, we have reduced our import content from 80 percent to 50 percent to sustain us through volatility in the exchange rate and rising cost content. We have also gained economies of scale in our purchases and expenditure cost,” he said.
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