8th International Exhibition and Conference on Starting a Business "Festival of Franchises",
The 8 International Exhibition and Conference on Opening a Business "Franchise Festival", held in the capital, reflected the general opinion of entrepreneurs about life in a crisis: business will survive only if we abandon the outdated rules.
On the first and second day of the Festival, the main format was panel discussions and round tables, during which participants discussed general provisions in the development of the Russian franchising market.
Most conference speakers believe that you should not wait for the crisis to stop. “Our life is changing every day. We overcome big and small crises constantly ”- Irina Avrutskaya, Head of Like4like Agency, ex-marketer at TGI Fridays, Costa Coffee.
Business representatives believe that for the further development of franchising and in general SMEs, one of the most important criteria is to begin to adapt to new conditions and stabilize as soon as possible. “It doesn't matter what course it is. If the ruble costs 120, then the main thing is to keep it that way ”- Alexey Gisak, founder of the Wokker network and Wokker school.
Dmitry Potapenko, the founder of Managemet Development Group, said that one of the main problems in franchising is inadvertent selection of franchisees and unfair treatment of partners by franchisors, especially with regard to partners from the regions. He believes that regional franchising is not developing stably. A large percentage of franchisees simply do not have business experience, and do not receive proper support from their franchisors.
Gennady Kochetkov, Vice President of Subway, believes that in the next two years the service market will grow and dominate, more and more proven franchises will appear.
Andrey Razuvaev, project manager for Franchising. Regions, said that the Internet has a significant influence on regional entrepreneurs, where high-quality franchises and dummies are not filtered. That is why people often buy dubious business.
The speakers predicted that in the next two years, franchising will develop at the same pace, without decline, after which growth will resume.
“Due to the emergence of new offers, due to well-known brands that have not previously been developed by franchising, the market is developing steadily - there is no recession or rapid growth. Now is the time for new ideas. And by replacing closed franchises with new offers, the business is stable. ”- Nina Semina, General Manager Francon.
“Franchising in Russia is 1% of GDP, in America - 10-8%. RAF predicts that by 2025, growth will reach 5%. I’m not so optimistic, but I’m sure that people will buy franchises even in times of crisis, especially cheaper ones ”- Ernesto Gonzalez, Vice President of Rosinter.
Within the framework of the conference, a discussion panel was held on the topic “Support for Small and Medium Business. Lending, financing and investments ”, which was attended by Alena Sokova, head of the Venture Fund Promsvyazbank; Tatyana Repina Director of Communications and Public Relations of the MBM Credit Assistance Fund; Oleg Ivanov, investor, founder of Invest Bazar.
The speakers noted that it is worth looking for support if there is already an active and steadily developing business. “Investors do not want to listen to ideas. They want to see a working business plan ”- Tatyana Repina.
The conference was attended by - Evgeniy Butman, owner of Ideas4Retail; Igor Stoyanov, owner of Persona Lab; Oleg Anisimov, member of the board of directors of Moe Delo; Ivan Kaigortsev, Development Director of Positronic; Vladimir Raich, owner of the Tutti-Frutti master franchise; Svetlana Knyazeva, Managing Partner of BRTG; Michael Malloy, Head of Intellectual Property and Practical Technologies, DLA Piper; Eduard Ostrobrod, Vice President of SELA; Maxim Zhurilo, owner of ILOVERUNNING; Dmitry Evseev, owner of KILLFISH. In total, 38 market experts spoke at the conference.
The section on youth entrepreneurship was presented by Ayaz Shabutdinov (Like), Danila Antonovsky (Chop-Chop), Sergey Kuznetsov (Claustrophobia). Speakers shared their business creation stories. The founder of Chop-Chop said that he started his business “on the knee”, and now the company has its own school for franchisees. Chop-Chop helped become a well-known media background for the founders: Danila Antonovsky - ex-editor of the men's magazine GQ.
92 Russian and international brands took part in the franchise exhibition, including 2 concepts of Rosinter restaurants - Il'Patio and Shikari; American pizza chain Domino's pizza; KILLFISH discount bar network; Papa John's American Network; Mango Telecom, leader in the virtual PBX market in Russia; large holding uniting more than 20 companies, Like; the Comedy Café catering network; the country's largest ice cream parlor chain 33 penguins; chain of stores with fixed prices At the same time; The chain of stores of developing games Imaginarium; inventory services company, ORRLA and many others.
All participants noted the growth of the exhibition in the image indicator, among the audience and the number of exhibitors. Exhibitors gathered for 2 days from 50 to 500 hot contacts aimed at partnering with brands.
In just 2 days, the exhibition was visited by 4987 SME owners, investors, top managers and potential entrepreneurs.
The regional affiliation of visitors totals 14 countries, including Russia. The guests arrived from the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Ukraine, India, China and the CIS countries - Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan.
The next Franchise Festival will be held on 6-7 on April 2017 of the year. Information about the venue is being specified.
An increase in new shopping centers in Russia is expected in 2026.
Analysts at NF Group predict that the volume of new shopping centers completed in the country could increase by 21% to 638 square meters in 2026. This is double the amount completed last year…
Sneakers are set to become the biggest footwear trend in 2025.
Hybrid footwear—a combination of sneakers and ballet flats—has taken root in fashion brands' collections since 2025. Designers have eagerly embraced the trend and are pouring all their creative energy into creating a variety of looks.
The Familia chain will open 18 new stores in 2025.
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Happy New Year and Merry Christmas
Dear readers and colleagues! We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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Micam and Livetrend presented a selection of footwear trends for the spring-summer 2026 season
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PETER KAISER - the best brand of 2025!
"CAPRICE Schuhproduktion GmbH has received a certificate for awarding PETER KAISER the title of "Top Brand 2025".
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