H.E. Butti Saeed Al Ghandi, Second Vice-Chairman of the Dubai World Trade Centre, today attended the opening of the 3^rd edition of The Global Franchise Market Exhibition (TGFM), the official franchise event in Dubai, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. Held under the patronage of the Dubai Economy, the 2-day event aims to offer new and established franchise brands a unique platform to explore new franchise opportunities in Dubai and other lucrative markets in the Middle East and North Africa region.

H.E. Butti Saeed Al Ghandi accompanied by a number of officials from the government and private sector toured the exhibition area that occupies an overall space of 2,000 square meters and witnessed the participation of over 100 companies from more than 80 countries. Over the next two days, TGFM is expected to attract over 2,000 visitors and participants, bringing together master franchisees, leading entrepreneurs, mall operators and future business owners from the UAE and across the globe under one roof. In addition, the exhibition is playing host to 3 major pavilions for each of Kuwait, Malaysia and Canada, offering brand owners and franchisees from these countries a great opportunity to engage and collaborate with local franchisees and businesses.

TGFM comes at a time when the franchise industry is continuing to grow exponentially in the UAE, owing to many contributing factors including a world class business friendly environment, state of the art infrastructure, UAE’s leading efforts to diversify the economy away from Oil, a steadily growing expat population and the presence of a larger number of high net-worth individuals.

While speaking about the 3^rd edition of TGFM exhibition in Dubai, Eng. Anas Al Madani, Vice Chairman and Group CEO of INDEX Holding commented saying: “The UAE is a global hub for innovation, entrepreneurship and investment making it one of the best countries in the world for doing business. This comes, as the World Bank’s annual Ease of Doing Business report reveals that the UAE rose 10 spots from 21 last year and now stands in 11^th place globally among 190 economies. With significant improvements into services and legislation taking shape in the very near future and the UAE continues to rise in global competitiveness indices every year, more and more franchise establishments and leading investors are finding the UAE a key gateway to other booming franchise markets in the Middle East and North Africa region.”

He added: “In its latest edition, TGFM aims to take advantage of Dubai’s excellent infrastructure and provide a unique platform to small businesses, entrepreneurs, investors and leading franchise establishments to collaborate and create franchise partnerships in the future. I am highly confident that participating brands of TGFM this year, will be able to engage and understand the demands of the local and regional franchisees and come up with concepts and ideas that are applicable in the region, leading to a successful franchise market.”

From his side, Jassim Al Bastaki, the Founder and CEO of franchisesouqe.com said: “TGFM provides the perfect platform for a face-to-face interaction with businesses from the franchising industry. Franchisesouq.com being the strategic partner and co-founder of TGFM, is a key gateway for all franchise brands and seekers to find everything in one place. We believe that the key to making franchise partnerships successful is interlinking the franchisee with the brand or vice-versa, which will further enhance collaboration opportunities in the future.”

He added, “While TGFM offers a number of franchise opportunities for aspiring brands who wish to expand, franchisesouq.com connects the entrepreneurs and investors locally and internationally with brands elsewhere. The platform offers unique solutions across various industries such as: F&B, Retail, Real Estate, Entertainment, Healthcare, Education and Services. Franchisesouq.com is an ideal platform to expand any franchise as it offers necessary recourses for their growth. It gives us immense pleasure to be associated with TGFM as we continuously support the franchising industry through disruptive and innovative measures.”  

On another note, Imad Charaf Eddine, CEO, Francorp Middle East, said, “Francorp ME is proud to be the official partner of The Global Franchise Market which actively aims at supporting businesses in the Middle East to grow regionally and internationally through franchising. Francorp is the world’s oldest and largest franchise consultancy firm in the world with more than 25 regional offices across the Middle East, North & South America, Asia and Europe covering more than 55 countries.”

He added, “Francorp’s role has been to discover special businesses, determine how they can benefit from franchising, and then provide the strategies and services that enable them to optimize the concept. Francorp’s services include providing support to existing franchisors as well as new potential franchisors in the development of their franchise structure compromising of strategies, financials, legal documentation, operation manuals and marketing plans. Moreover, Francorp focuses on connecting businesses with the right franchise partners, investor and franchisees that help support their expansion plans.”

While many key sectors are flourishing in the franchise business model, UAE’s Food and Beverage sector in particular has remained steadfast, growing consistently over the past 5 years, where the sector has grown 22 percent from 10.8 billion dollars in 2013, reaching 13.2 billion dollars this year, as new outlets open and the UAE continues to witness a rise in the number of tourists, topping 20 million last year, led by Dubai and Abu Dhabi, according to a new report by KPMG.

As a testament to the trends in the franchise industry, this year, TGFM is playing host to a number of brands from the Food and Beverage sector from the region and across the globe such as: Jelly Belly Ice Cream and GarfieldEATS. In addition, many non-F& B brands in diverse franchise sectors such as ‘Child Education and Entertainment’ are represented by: Mulberry Learning, Smart Reader Kids and Rolling Wheels while many brands representing Service Sectors include: SpotOn Wifi, Fastsigns, Spider Style Rope Access and Laundrybar, MAB Food Trucks, Ajman Free Zone and Ajman Chamber. Moreover, the Health and Beauty sector is represented by: In Shape By Laila and F Salon.

The Global Franchise Market (TGFM), is organized annually by INDEX Conferences and Exhibitions – a member of INDEX Holding with the support of Dubai Economy and under the strategic partnership of Franchise Souq and Francorp Middle East.