Franchising Webinar

by Speakers Wambugu Wa Gichohi and Linda Onyango

Thursday, May 28th at 10:00 a.m. EAT

FREE FOR OWIT MEMBERS!

Franchising has been used by indigenous businesses in the USA, Asia, Europe, Australia and other markets to create massive wealth for themselves, their governments and everyone in the franchising ecosystem. A large number of multinationals use franchising as the chosen model when entering foreign markets. Franchising can be applied to almost all types of businesses, hence its ability to create high impact to the economies of countries where it has taken root. IT COULD BE A BOOST

Many business owners around the world struggle to open own outlets, ignoring the massive benefits of adapting the franchise model. In this session, you will engage the facilitators in the following areas:

• What is franchising
• How does franchising work
• Why should you as a business owner consider franchising your business?
• Why should you consider investing in a franchise instead of setup up a business from scratch?
• Why should governments consider promoting franchising?
• Interdependent roles of the franchisor and the franchisee
• Global trends in franchising
• What financing options are available when rolling out your franchise network or investing in a franchise?
• What challenges are there in franchising and how are they mitigated?

Who should attend?

• Owner Managers of businesses that have strong brands seeking fast and inexpensive growth
• CEOs of corporates, and SMEs that have strong brands seeking fast and inexpensive growth
• Board Members of corporates struggling to grow on the traditional growth models
• Individuals and senior business executives seeking to acquire franchises
• Product Development Managers in banks seeking to develop franchise-specific products for their customers.
• Commercial lawyers specialized in IP law and seeking to understand franchising end to end.

Wambugu is a fully-fledged franchise consultant. He leads a team of regional and international franchise consultants under the Worldahead brand, offering a unique one-stop shop for businesses wishing to franchise their local brands, to re-align/turnaround their struggling franchise operations, to acquire franchises, settling in international brands seeking to franchise in Africa and helping governments to mainstream franchising as a strategy for long-term growth.

Mr. Wambugu has singled out franchising as the next big thing for SMEs in Africa. He spearheaded the formation of the Franchise Association of Tanzania (FATA) aimed at providing a center point for all franchising activities in Tanzania.

Wambugu has extensively researched franchising in the East African Community region. He is Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) student at the Institute of Certified Franchise Executives of the International Franchise Association (IFA) and a member of the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA). Since 2017, he runs a weekly column on franchising in The Citizen newspaper (in Tanzania) and has contributed franchising articles in The New Vision (Uganda) and in The East African. He has also discussed franchising on national TV channels in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and has presented on franchising in many entrepreneurship conferences across East Africa, including Kenya National Assembly's Speakers Forum. He has also researched extensively on franchising in East Africa and represents Kenya and Tanzania in the Pan African Franchise Federation (PAFF).

Over the years Wambugu has successfully delivered numerous leadership development and entrepreneurship consultancies for leading corporates, MSMEs and organizations such as the World Bank, UNIDO, UNHCR, UNDP, SIDA and EAC among others, including the Government of Tanzania and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar. He has also carried out leadership and change management training for many organizations and governments across East Africa since 2001.

In the early days of his career, Wambugu worked with Diners Club, Visa and McCann Erickson franchises in Kenya. He is an Education graduate in Economics and Business Studies from Kenyatta University (Kenya), a Certified Public Secretary (not practiced) in Kenya, a holder of a Post-Graduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development from the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and has attended numerous short courses in entrepreneurship, franchising and enhancing consultancy skills.

Linda Onyango is the C.E.O. of SME Support Centre Limited. Until April 2019, she was also the Associate Partner for East Africa for MN Capital Partners a capital raising firm based in South Africa .She previously sat in the African Investment Committee Berkeley Middle East Investor Club and is currently in the Boards of the Association of Startups & SME Enablers Kenya(ASSEK) and the Association of Sustainability Practitioners Kenya(ASPK) Some of the highlights of her experience include:

In March 2019, awarded by Berkeley Middle East Holdings during the Sub- Saharan Africa Investment Forum as the "most effective local supporter" for her role in mobilizing capital for SMEs in Africa

In 2018 appointed as an SDG Influencer to represent Kenyan SMEs at first Heads of States Partnership for Green Growth Summit in Copenhagen. In 2017 appointed as an UNLEASH Global SDG Talent Shaper because of her contribution in ensuring the adoption and scale of RE technologies.

Lead SME Advisor, Energy 4 Impact, Climate Innovation Centre. Linda has led the design and implementation of investment readiness programs and business advisory support to over 100 renewable energy and agribusiness entrepreneurs over the last 3 years.

Strategy and operations consulting manager, KPMG . Through her position, Linda led and facilitated the development of strategic plans and business plans to government and corporate clients mostly in the agriculture sector in East Africa. In her role ,she managed projects worth USD 1 million each year.

Linda started the early years of her career working for PWC and Olympia Capital Holdings where her notable achievements included support in launch of the new PWC Advisory strategy and support the successful launch and listing of Olympia in the Nairobi Stock Exchange.