At least 50 next generation Filipino brands are targeted to enter 50 foreign markets over the next two years, according to Sam Christopher Lim, president of the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA).
“We are targeting 50 market entries during my term,” said Lim in an interview at the Franchise Asia Philippines Expo 22 at the SMX Convention Center where 500 brands are participating of which more than 40 percent are new concepts.
Lim said the “50 market entries” could mean one brand entering 50 countries or 50 brands entering one country. “At least we have 50 Filipino brands,” he said.
According to Lim, they have already identified some next gen brands that are already prepared for international debut in two years and some PFA member companies that must foray overseas. Most these brands are in the food business.
The priority markets are US, Canada and the Middle East as they are typically the first markets that most brands look into. “But there are also large opportunities for growth in our ASEAN neighbors, specifically Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia,” he added.
“Lots of our brands are even bigger than those trying to enter our country,” Lim said.
To be part of the 50 brands means they have already fined tune their franchise system locally so they are prepared to go international. Second is that their concept has to be able to adapt to other markets. And third is a clear vision from the owners for growth and commitment to truly scale up internationally.
So far, Lim said there are more than 25 global Filipino brands with a mix of franchised and company owned. “But the priority of most brands is to scale up using franchising as they're able to grow using other people's money, time and networks,” he said.
Lim explained that they have learned in the past two years the importance of diversification. “That to truly be resilient, we need to be in multiple locations and multiple countries,” he said.
With that, the PFA has encouraged homegrown brands to not only grow locally, but internationally as well. He noted that having the most innovative businesses with strong franchise systems, “We believe we can have more global Filipino brands.”
Lim said that Jollibee and Potato Corner have led the way, but he foresees the next generation of brands such as “Bang Bang Bangus”, who wants to globalize milkfish.
There are also some coffee brands such as “Bo's Coffee”, which is making inroads in new markets, and also mango and dessert concepts that can make it big in international markets.
“Beyond food, we have beauty brands such as Hello Gorgeous a former NxtGen winner entering the US and other service brands looking at international growth,” he added.
To bring these brands overseas, Lim said the PFA has a two-pronged strategy: capacitate and connect.
To capacitate, he said, they have to educate more brands about preparing their systems to go international. This is the reason the PFA is working with the Asia Pacific Franchise Confederation to conduct webinars on how to enter the various Asia Pacific markets.
To be able to connect, PFA together with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center are visiting expos and conduct business matching sessions across various markets to help Filipino brands meet the right partners.
In addition, Lim emphasized that domestic brands need the support of the government as he cited Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea and Thailand governments investing heavily in supporting franchise brands expand internationally.
In fact, he pointed out that the just concluded Franchise Asia Philippines Expo featured large delegations of brands from Taiwan, Korea and Malaysia are supported both financially and with on-ground support by their governments.
“This is because they know that franchising is not about exporting individual products, it is exporting entire business models, exporting culture and exporting full collection of products and raw materials to new markets,” he explained.
“For us to have more globally competitive Filipino Franchise Brands, we need the financial support of government so we can make bigger impact in the various international franchise shows, and lower the barrier of entry for our MSMEs.”
For 2023, the PFA won the bid out of 40 countries to hold the World Franchise Council Meeting. “This would be a perfect venue to truly showcase the strength of the Filipino brands and of the Philippine Franchise Industry,” he said.