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Attracting minority franchisees
America is going through some fundamental shifts at the moment. The day is coming when minority groups will have a bigger population base than America’s white European descendants. It’s all part of the incredible evolution of America, but in the mean time, the surge in the population of minority communities presents some mouth-watering business opportunities for franchisors.
Picking up on the mantra of change that swept Barack Obama into the White House last November, Maria D’Ambrosio, senior director of inclusion and diversity for Choice Hotels International writes in the IFA’s Franchising World about how to attract minority franchisees in the latest issue of Franchising World.
There’s a lot of interesting facts to take in.
A study from 2002 shows that minority enterprises brought in over $686 billion in annual sales and employed about 4.7 million people. Imagine how that’s gone up in 7 years! Equally, the ratio of non-minorities to minorities is only 1.5 to 1 from Americans under the age of 20, a staggering fact.
D’Ambrosio urges franchises to reach out to minority communities through media that caters specifically to the African-American, Hispanic or Asian communities, not to mention pro-minority business lobby groups like the National Black MBA Association to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Finally, she encourages people to take advantage of the IFA’s Diversity Institute: “The International Franchising Association’s Diversity Institute has been very successful in partnering with a number of such agencies across the United States to offer seminars to educate and raise awareness about the benefits of franchising,” she says.
All good advice and worth keeping in mind for attracting the next great franchising sector.
Well, this is suppose to be the essence of franchise opportunities. The opportunity to acquire a franchise unit should be an opportunity for all who are qualified and capable, without discrimination.It is very interesting to know that someone who belongs to the minority has already started coming out and be an active part of the business sector.
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Sara