Exhibition for a New Business
Franchising EXPO 2011

11-12 November, National Palace of Culture, Sofia

The third exhibition for new business in Bulgaria will take place on 11-12 November in Hall 3 in the National Palace of Culture. Over 3000 visitors to Franchising Expo 2011 are expected and they will be able to learn more about the opportunities which more than 70 Bulgarian and international franchise chains offer for starting own business.

On the first day of the exhibition the conference “Franchising Business in Bulgaria” will take place and leading international franchise experts and their Bulgarian colleagues will deliver lectures

Franchising Expo 2010 was held on 26-27 November 2010 in the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. Over 2700 entrepreneurs from all over the country visited the second exhibition for new business in Bulgaria and learnt about more than 50 international and Bulgarian franchise chains. 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 Results RULES OK, having worked with Business Owners in 21 Countries, plus 15 States in the USA.

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.

To present your business to over 3000 Bulgarian and international entrepreneurs, as well as to receive more information and apply for participation in the third exhibition for new business in Bulgaria, Franchise Expo 2011, please contact us on email: contact@franchising.bg or by phone +359 884 597 517.

Join Franchising Expo 2011, start a new successful business and develop your franchise chain in Bulgaria and abroad!