Franchising trailblazer

In the world of franchising, the Philippines has always been ahead of more developed Asian economies as Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong in terms of the number of franchise concepts and the rapid growth of consumer reach. The Philippines is also home to two of the few certified franchising executives outside the United States.

"In the US, both franchisors and franchisees seek CFEs. They want managers who have the complete arsenal to do battle in a very competitive field," said Philippine Franchise Association president Alegria Sibal Limjoco, one of the country’s CFEs. (The other is PFA member Ricardo Mercado, who manages his family’s Red Ribbon Bake Shop).

To earn the CFE designation, Limjoco and Mercado completed the requirements of the Institute of Certified Franchise Executives, an arm of the International Franchise Association Education Foundation. The ICFE requires CFE candidates to earn 3,500 credits over a three-year period in the following four areas: core curriculum (a minimum of 1,600 credits); elective curriculum (a minimum of 900 credits); participation (a minimum of 500 credits); and experience (a minimum of 500 credits).

Becoming a CFE is costly. In the case of Limjoco, she finished the first module of the mini-Master in franchise management at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. For the three-day course, which earned her 450 CFE credits, the tuition was $1,450, exclusive of $150 in hotel board and lodging and at least $1,000 for the roundtrip economy fare.

Outside the US, the PFA is blazing the trail by making the CFE program available locally.

"Since 2002, we have flown in speakers for the CFE program and we have negotiated for discounts on enrolment and registration fees to make the CFE affordable to more of our members," said Limjoco.

There are currently 42 Filipino CFE candidates.

Franchise Concepts

"With training, our country will be at the cutting edge of franchising. We will be the franchising hub of Asia, with Philippine-grown franchisors growing in foreign lands and Filipino executives becoming franchising consultants in Asia-Pacific countries," said Limjoco.

In the span of 15 years, franchise concepts in the Philippines have grown from just 50 in the early 1990s to more than 850 today, 45% of which are foreign.

"Each year, the PFA’s international franchise conference and expo manages to bring into the market an average of 50 to 100 new home-grown and foreign concepts," said Limjoco. "To stay in the world map of franchising, we must constantly update ourselves