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The stall in the credit markets has affected every sector of franchising, and has prevented hundreds of Americans from opening the franchise of their dreams. Sadly, it seems that many top minority franchisee candidates have not been able to tap franchise funding, which slows slightly the coming wave of great minority franchisees.

The IFA’s director of education and diversity Miriam Brewer spoke about the things that franchises can do to attract more minority candidates at times where credit markets are tight to QSR magazine. She spoke of the need for innovation for franchisors.

When you surround yourself with individuals that come from diverse backgrounds, you get the best of everything. The idea that great minds think alike is so old.”

The story sites the interesting case of Jonathan Fornaci, Straw Hat Pizza CEO, who let new minority franchisees purchase used equipment via Craigslist, instead of through suppliers. It’s a simple initiative like that which makes it that little bit easier to attract minority talent.

Brewer also noted that franchises stopped trying to attract minority candidates during the dregs of the recession. The credit markets may be unfavorable, but the argument for attracting minorities to your franchise goes beyond public service. Minorites can bring so much to a franchise that franchisors need to consider every option in trying to discover new talent.

As Gerry Fernandez, head of the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance said in the story: “Store operators from within those communities know better how to successfully operate those businesses, find talent, and understand cultural norms.”

Sometimes a picture is actually worth a thousand words. We all know there’s been a huge spike in minority entrepreneurship in America over the last decade, but some recently-released graphs capture the dramatic nature of this shift better than any blog post I could write.

The enterprising staff at Businessweek.com has published some interesting graphs that detail among other things, the rapid rise of the Latino entrepreneur, the quiet boom in the construction industry and the huge difference between the number of immigrant start-up business openings and native-born start-ups.

There’s some really relevant information in here, especially for franchisors looking to broaden their base of franchisees. If it wasn’t clear before, a perusal of these graphs make it 100% obvious that minority-owned businesses are the future of American entrepreneurship. Latino entrepreneurship nearly double that of all other groups and Latinos have opened the most businesses in American since the recession, with Asian-run businesses coming second.

Interestingly, if you remove the tag Latino and break new business ownership down between native-born people and immigrants, you’ll find that immigrant-run businesses have a nearly 3-1 advantage now. Often people harp on about the “American Dream” as if it is a meaningless concept, but here it’s crystal clear that people come to the country with the purpose of opening a business of their own.

There’s also some fascinating data on the rise of construction businesses after the recession. Even as the housing market has slumped, there’s be a rapid increase in the number of small, independently-minded construction businesses. There is clearly opportunity here for a forward thinking franchise.

The ramifications are crystal clear for franchisors. It’s time to court minority franchisees and business owners. Unfortunately, you have to visit the Businessweek page to view these interactive graphs but it’s one of the more interesting visual representations of the rise in minority business ownership that I’ve seen in a long time.

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.

For minorities looking to get a leg-up in the entrepreneurial world, franchising offers a fast track to self-employment. The success of franchises like Popeye’s Chicken in urban areas, not to mention somewhat related events, like the election of the first African-American president of the United States and the nomination of the first Hispanic woman to the Supreme Court underlines the great success minorities have been enjoying in business and politics in the last few years.

The IFA has recently published some very interesting first-hand accounts of the experiences of minorities in franchising. It makes for interesting reading and shows how a range of minorities, be they African-American, Hispanic or Chinese, are doing extremely well in franchising.

Take Serdar and Sujata Chakraborty, who  own three Wireless Zone franchises in Maryland. As the IFA writes:

For the past three years, the Chakrabortys have worked hard to reclaim the marketplace one customer at a time. Leading by example, the team has successfully maintained their managers’ and sales team’s dedication to servicing the customers. By treating, trusting and building relationships with their local Maryland communities, the Chakrabortys have been able to maintain a stronghold on the market as the leaders of three Verizon Wireless service and products franchises.

Or consider the story of Sam Hilo, whose family moved from Jordan to the US when he was 11 year old. Sam opened a Liberty Tax Service franchise in 2003 and now enjoys multiple trips in Europe every year.

“My first year in business I had the No.1 new office in the system. With a staff of eight, we prepared 1,340 returns and grossed $160,000 in revenues. I grew my business to eight offices in seven years without any outside financial help,” Sam said.

And there’s the experience of Ron and Patricia Ramsey, who aside from owning a Furniture Medic franchise, have been working tirelessly to advocate the benefits of entrepreneurship to citizens in Cleveland.

The Ramseys also spend time letting others know about the benefits of minority certification. They applied for the Minority Business Enterprise certification with the City of Cleveland, the city’s school board, the Ohio state government and Cuyahoga County in 2007. Minority certifications are important because government agencies and many large corporations are required to contract with a certain amount of minority and women-owned companies through supplier-diversity programs.

Reports like this show just how committed minorities are to succeeding as entrepreneurs. Owning your own business is part and parcel of the American dream, and this report highlights six people who have achieved it. Many franchisors may be unaware of this hunger to thrive in business, but it exists.

Meanwhile, minorities interested in franchising should stick with Franchise Direct. The entrepreneurs listed above all made their way in business with franchises that are part of the Franchise Direct network. There are a great number of exciting franchises for sale here.

In this week’s Franchise Update, we are bringing you news on the IFA’s upcoming MinorityFran seminars, as well as news on the latest addition to Franchise Direct’s online family: Franchise Direct Canada!

Click here to download this week’s Franchise Update, or watch in the player below:

The IFA have announced details of their upcoming franchise seminars aimed at minority groups. MinorityFran will hold an informative seminar in St. Louis on June 17th. Details can be found on the IFA website.

Franchise Direct are excited to announced the launch of their newest franchise opportunities website for franchise opportunities in Canada. Franchise Direct Canada, will provide an online portal for the franchise community in Canada.

Thanks for watching!