Whilst you are no doubt familiar with the figures regarding women in business, a 14.9% pay gap and only one in three leadership roles and 25% of executive committee roles filled by women, the same cannot be said for the franchising sector, where women thrive, building large, ethical, sustainable businesses both as franchisors and franchisees.
According to the 2018 BFA (British Franchise Association) and NatWest Survey (a keenly awaited update is due in January 2024), women account for 30% of all franchisees in the UK and female-led franchises generated an estimated £5bn in turnover and employed over 128,000 people.
Women are very well represented in both franchisee and franchisor camps and over a diverse range of sectors, from traditional children’s activities such as ballet and swimming lessons, to far less historically ‘feminine’ areas such as vehicle cleaning products and alloy wheel repairs.
As the largest and most influential franchise trade association in the UK with over 300 members, the BFA is passionate about encouraging women, firstly into business and secondly into franchising. The organisation will be hosting its annual EWIB (Empowering Women in Business) event on September 27 at the Madjeski Stadium in Reading. Open to all women, the day aims to engage, educate and entertain with outstanding female keynote speakers in an inclusive, supportive environment, whilst urging attendees to ‘Make your moment count’. Keynote speakers include The Apprentice winner Harpreet Kaur; former interviews producer for BBC 2’s flagship news programme Newsnight, Sam McAlister; and double Women’s FA Cup winner and three-time Premier/Super League champion Eniola Aluko.
As one might expect, London is a hot bed of franchise activity. South-east London-based former dancer Anne-Marie Martin is the founder and franchisor of award-winning children’s dance franchise, diddi dance. Through a network of 40 franchisees, diddi dance offers classes across the UK including south east, north, north east and west London, Enfield, Bexley, Richmond and Twickenham.
Anne-Marie explained why she chose to franchise her business and the benefits she believes franchising brings to both parties:
“Twenty years ago, when I launched diddi dance, there weren’t many children’s activities classes around. After testing my classes in a few different areas and encountering the issues surrounding employing teachers, I decided that franchising was the best way to go for me. It has allowed me to grow my business, share my knowledge and research into early years dance movement and, crucially, to keep brand consistency.
“Franchisees benefit from buying into a well established brand, which, although it doesn’t guarantee success, does provide a proven business system. They also receive full training and ongoing support, which takes away a huge amount of risk when starting a new business. In return, as a franchisor I get people truly invested in my brand with a passion for the services we provide.”
Support is one area in which franchising excels, from training in how to deliver the core service through to the admin tasks involved in running the business, marketing, advertising, invoicing etc. Franchisees receive ‘in territory support’ in the early weeks and months and appropriate support as the business grows.
Victoria Cooper-Jones bought her Razzamataz Theatre School franchise in 2017.
She said:
“I’d been running a successful interior design business but wanted to get back to my roots in performing arts; I can honestly say buying my franchise was the best decision I could have made. From the moment I bought it I have had wonderful support both from the franchisor and the rest of the network. The training was very detailed and incredibly useful; although I’d run my own design business, this was completely different.
“We are a very inclusive network at Razzamataz, you are made to feel strong and empowered from the start, which I love. We have a group chat we use for advice, questions or just to let off steam if you’ve had a bad day. The head office team are 100% behind you all the way and I feel very blessed that I decided to join this amazing network.”
The BFA is a voluntary self-regulating governing body for franchising in the UK. It is the largest and most influential franchise trade association and the only one working with both the European Franchise Federation and World Franchise Council.
Pip Wilkins, CEO of the British Franchise Association, said:
“At the BFA we set the standards of franchising in Britain today. If a franchise is a member of the BFA you can be sure it is ethical, sustainable, and professionally run. As a sector we are blessed with strong, amazing, inspiring women who are achieving great success with their businesses and we can’t wait to see what the future holds, there is no glass ceiling in franchising, there is something for everyone and the sky really is the limit.”
Tickets for EWIB are £135+VAT available from: www.thebfa.org/product/ewib-ticket
To find out more about buying a franchise or franchising your business visit www.thebfa.org