Exhibition for a New Business
Franchising EXPO 2010

26-27 November, National Palace of Culture, Sofia

The second exhibition for new business in Bulgaria was held in Sofia on 26-27 of November in the National Palace of Culture. The visitors at Franchising Expo 2010, over 2700 entrepreneurs from all over the country, learned about the opportunities to start own business offered by over 50 international and Bulgarian franchise systems. Official partners of the exhibition were Eurofootball bookmaker and Investor.bg. General sponsor of Franchising Expo for a second consecutive year was Subway, Franchise №1 in the world according to Entrepreneur Magazine.

On the first day of the event the conference “Franchising business” took place with lecturers - international specialists in franchising and their Bulgarian colleagues. Among them were Tony Fitzpatrick – member of the Board of Directors of the Irish Franchise Association, Sotiris Yannakakis, Master in franchise law from Harvard University and General Manager of the Greek Franchise Association, Kalin Ganev, Marketing Director of Eurofootball. Also, Constantin Anton. President of the Romanian Franchise Association and First Vice President of the Black Sea Franchise Association, as well as David Holland, CEO of ActionCOACH, the biggest company for business coaching in the world with over 1000 offices in 32 countries.

The conference was attended by 250 people: managers of companies offering or developing own franchise systems, owners and directors of companies from all over Bulgaria, specialists and experts in franchising and entrepreneurs interested in starting new business by buying a franchise.

The conference was opened by Svetoslav Biliarsky, manager of Franchising.bg and organizer of Franchising Expo. The presentation of Tony Fitzpatrick, who during the entire exhibition provided free advice to the interested ones, was dedicated to how to develop our business into a franchise chain. Sotiris Yannakakis addressed the legal basis of franchising and introduced the audience to the latest directives of the European Union. In the conference Kalin Ganev – Marketing Director of Eurofootball – the biggest Bulgarian franchise company with 744 units in 220 cities revealed the methods for adapting the franchise practice to the Bulgarian environment. The Portuguese Ivo Crisostomo from National Business Brokers commented on the main steps for selecting an appropriate new business and its initial development.

At the Franchising.bg party, held at the end of the first day in club Mascara, the guests could share experience with franchisors, consultants and other guests from 9 countries and make contacts with potential partners. Advices on how to sell franchise, were given by Christophe Angleys, Commercial Director of Franchise Expo Paris – the biggest franchise exhibition in the world with 450 exhibitors.

After the second day of Franchising Expo 2010 Angel Stoyanov, owner of Don Domat Pizza said that the following year he would need a team of at least four members to cope with the flow of stand visitors willing to discuss the franchise opportunity offered by him. Ivan Todorov Regional Development Manager at Subway shared that the interest in their franchise was great. According to him and at the moment Subway were selecting their last franchise partners in Bulgaria so after closing the planned 40 franchise contracts in the country they would redirect their franchise development operations to the Romanian market. Kalin Ganev from Eurofootball added: “I have never believed that the Bulgarian franchise with the greatest number of units will generate such interest. The exhibition will only increase our workload”.

Franchising Expo 2010 was twice as big as the preceding one – with twice more exhibitors, twice more foreign lecturers, and twice more visitors. For the first time also a module with multilevel (network) marketing companies was included at the exhibition.

In 2010 Franchising Expo opened doors for the Bulgarian business to the world by initiating stands exchange with the franchise exhibitions in Dubai, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Argentina, etc. This means that from next year on Bulgarian franchises will be able to present themselves and recruit partners at the exhibitions in those countries.

Conference
"FRANCHISING BUSINESS IN BULGARIA" (2010)

26th November 2010, National Palace of Culture, Sofia

10:00 – 10:20
Official Opening

10:20 – 10:40
HOW TO FRANCHISE YOUR BUSINESS
Tony Fitzpatrick, Managing Director of FranchiseYourBusiness.ie, Ireland; Member of the Board of the Directors of the Irish Franchise Association

10:40 – 11:00
INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISING – BUSINESS AND LEGAL ISSUES
Sotiris Yannakakis, General Director and Legal Counsel of Greek Franchise Association, Franchise Lawyer

11:00 – 11:20
ADAPTING THE FRANCHISE PRACTICE TO THE BULGARIAN CONDITIONS
Kalin Ganev, Marketing Director of Eurofootball – the biggest franchiser in Bulgaria

11:20 – 11:50
Coffee Break

11:50 – 12:10
BUSINESS COACHING IN THE FRANCHISE SYSTEM
David Holland, CEO of ActionCOACH EMEA, the biggest company for business couching in the world with more than 1000 offices in 32 countries

12:10 – 12:30
HOW TO CHOOSE MY NEW BUSINESS
Ivo Crisostomo, National Business Brokers, a company with 63 franchise offices in 26 countries on 4 continents

12:30 – 14:00
Lunch Break

14:00 – 14:20
MARKETING SUPPORT FOR THE FRANCHISEES
Vesselin Venev, Franchising manager at Address real estate

14:20 – 14:40
FRANCHISING DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE – THE HUNGARIAN EXPERIENCE
Dr. Katalin Mandel, CEO of the Hungarian Franchise Association

14:40 – 15:00
HOW TO SELL OUR FRANCHISE ABROAD
Constantin Anton, President of the Romanian Franchise Association and First Vice President of the Black Sea Franchise Association

15:00-15:20
HOW FRANCHISING CAN INCREASE FINANCIAL RESULTS
Pit Van Alten, One of the first franchisees of ERA Europe, with more than 30 years of experience in real estate business, Master Franchiser of ERA Turkey