A Franchise Turning Rubish Into Gold

FranchiseTalk:

When people sign franchise contracts to start their own businesses, hardly anyone thinks of the business of selling waste. Yet Wongpanit Garbage Recycle Separation Plant insists that if you want to become an entrepreneur, you should consider producing litter _ for recycling purposes. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if all litter was properly managed and reused? Wouldn’t our world be cleaner?’ asks Pranita Suitthimeathegorn, foreign marketing manager of Wongpanit.

Based in Phitsanulok, her 32-year-old company has been franchising the business for years, and now has more than 160 franchisees, 2 of which are in Laos. The relationship between Wongpanit’s plant and its franchisees is totally different from those in other franchise systems, says Mr Somthai.

Recently, the company was selected by Kenan Institute Asia (KIAsia) as one of 25 local franchise operators to take part in the Thai Franchises to Global Franchises programme. The programme is operated by KIAsia with the funding from the Commerce Ministry’s Business Development Department. It will help the 25 participants promote their franchises in neighbouring countries and in the Middle East. Wongpanit is focusing its expansion in Laos, Vietnam and Singapore.

To become a Wongpanit franchisee, Ms Pranita said a franchisee did not need to pay the usual franchise fee. Instead, a deposit would be required, which would be confiscated if the franchisee does anything that results in damage to the Wongpanit brand. The deposit varies with the business size but the minimum charge is 10,000 baht. Each franchisee is expected to recoup their investment within 3 to 5 years, said Ms Pranita. Somthai Wongcharoen, the plant’s owner, said the deposit would be returned to the franchisees who had been proved trustworthy.

Wongpanit’s business starts with purchasing recyclable waste from small suppliers to be sorted by its 140 employees and turning it into recycled raw materials for industrial factories, ranging from plastic, paper and metal to glass. ‘Reusable metal, especially copper and brass, is very much in high demand among industrial manufacturers,’ said Mr Somthai. The relationship between his plant and its franchisees was totally different from those in other franchise systems. More…