Franchising To The Rescue

NZ Business:

So you have stopped reading the daily papers, there’s a towel over the TV and the radio’s pulled out at the wall. And you’d walk to work, if you hadn’t given up food when its costs overtook the petrol price gouging. In short, you’re up to ‘here’ with all the doom-and-gloom; and your job in the corporate world, which was barely tolerable in the good times, is driving you to the brink.

Time for the good news: there’s never been a better time to consider buying a franchise – the ultimate counter-cyclical play. There is a great deal of history and statistics to back that up, along with a lot of solid, reputable expertise. And even the banks are coming to the party.

Franchising in New Zealand has enjoyed very strong growth since the late ‘90s. The last Survey of Franchising, sponsored by The National Bank in co-operation with the Franchise Association of New Zealand (FANZ), showed the sector would have grown to be worth well over $7 billion. It identified more than 350 franchise systems in New Zealand – a staggering three-quarters of them home-grown. Estimates of 40,000 to 50,000 people employed within the franchise industry are regarded as conservative by many pundits.

It seems we have more franchise systems per capita than any other country in the world and probably 15,000 to 20,000 franchisees. The figures are a little loose because no government statistics are kept on franchising.

Daniel Cloete, national franchising manager for Westpac New Zealand, and a man with a wide range of national and international experience in this niche has no doubt about the opportunity franchising presents in this current business environment.wide range of national and international experience in this niche has no doubt about the opportunity franchising presents in this current business environment. Read full article.