Franchising provides big business opportunities - Kwame Jantuah

Mr Kwame Jantuah, the Vice Chairman of Public Interest and Accountability Committee, has said franchising has become a big business in America and could be the next force to reckon with if the necessary measures are put in place.

Franchise, Mr Jantuah said is “a type of business arrangement where a license is granted to a person or business to use the name, business process and products/services that have been successfully developed by another company”.

At a workshop to educate journalists on the business model, Mr Jantuah, said franchising was the primary vehicle that had successfully taken small businesses and grown them into national chains in the United States.

The workshop organised by the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalist (IFEJ) in partnership with Voltic Ghana Limited on the theme: “Franchising, the key to small businesses mentorship, growth and development” sought to assist journalists to uncover franchising opportunities in Ghana.

It also sought to help journalists to appreciate the challenges involved in franchising, the needed regulations and laws to support implementation in the country and how it could propel industrial as well as small and medium-sized enterprises growth.

Mr Jantuah noted that in franchising, there were two parties involved called the franchisor and the franchisee.

According to him, the Franchisee is a person or entity that granted the license to a third party for the conducting of business under its marks.

“They owe the overall rights and trademarks of the company and allows its franchisees to use these rights and trademarks to conduct business,” he said.

He said franchisee is “the entrepreneur or business entity that is going to buy the franchise from the larger company”.

On his part, Mr Raymond Gbetivi, the Sales and Marketing Manager of Voltic Ghana Limited, said his company had been franchising its sachet water to some 37 operators across the country over the past nine years.

He noted that the franchising model of business was very helpful in the country to curb unemployment challenges as it provided jobs for many youth, saying, “more than 4,000 people are employed as a result of franchising our product”.

Present at the workshop were Mr Isaac Adu Boahene, a Voltic Ghana franchisee for Cool Pac at Koforidua and the Peduase Lodge as well as Nana Basoa, a Voltic Ghana franchisee for Cool Pac at North Alajo and Hebron in Accra, who attested to the benefits of franchising Voltic products.

In a field visit, the participants went to the Tasty Urban Water, a franchisee of Voltic Ghana producing Cool Pac where 25,000 to 30,000 bags of water were produced daily.

Ms Abigail Kumah, the Quality Assurance Manager at this franchisee located at Kwabenya, a suburb of Accra, said the facility had employed more than 145 employees with 60 percent being women.

The participants also went to the Triple A&B Ventures, another franchisee producing Cool Pac, where the production capacity was 7,000 bags of water daily and employed 25 youth.