Franchise Courses and Training Programme Launched By Indian Franchising Association.

A study by Indian Franchise Association

Bridging practical training gap would be the biggest challenge for education institutes post economic recovery

New Delhi, Delhi, March 31, 2010 /India PRwire/ -- New Delhi- April 1, 2010: Indian Franchise Association (IFA) has taken an initiative of launching India's first short term professional training courses on retail and franchising for MBA students and working executives. In India, 400,000 engineers graduated last year but only one in four of them was employable, rest could not make through due to lack of required technical skills, fluency in English, ability to work in a team or delivering basic oral presentations. Similarly the case with management education, hence the core objective of these training courses would be to make them employable. IFA has aggressive plans to promote short term professional training courses by establishing training centres in various parts of the country to educate students or professionals on the modalities of franchising and retail.

On certification courses introduction, Mr. Arvind Singhatiya, Head-Training and Content, Indian Franchise Association, said "It's indeed a landmark education initiative by IFA for management students and working professionals, as this will benefit them with expert training vis-à-vis seamless support for their placement in the burgeoning modern retail and franchise sector. We are in the process of tying up with B- schools, franchise companies and retail organizations to create a common podium for knowledge workers and seeking companies".

Commenting on the continuous demand in the market with an optimistic approach, Mr. Singhatiya further added, "Economy is bouncing back, this time in a big way; this will lead to an enormous demand of trained professionals and these training sessions are so tailored as to prepare students to meet industry needs and bridge the gap between education and practical training".

Experts agree that India's knowledge based economy needs dynamic and analytical knowledge workers who can become the motivating force for innovation and growth in this country. Professional training is need of the hour and it would add immense value if induced with the regular professional courses.

These short terms courses are one of their kind and a first step in India taken by IFA towards youth for them to understand fresh franchise business models and patterns adopted in the practical marketplace to excel in future for their growth.

Notes to Editor

About Indian Franchise Association

Indian Franchise Association (IFA) is India's premier, non-political, not-for-profit body representing Indian Franchise Sector. IFA's endeavor is to promote, promulgate and popularize the concept of franchising as a mode of doing business across the industry verticals and to nurture the entrepreneurial skill of every Indian. IFA is acting as a catalyst for franchise and modern retail sector's growth through various policy papers, conference, B2Bs workshops and liaison with the government of India for policy issues.

Franchise Management Programme For Entrepreneurs In India

Indian Franchise Association (IFA) has launched an interactive Franchise Management Program at the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA).

To be implemented in a module format, the program will introduce aspiring entrepreneurs at MICA to the intricacies of franchising and establish the strategic approach by posing various case studies. "An entrepreneurial spirit is critical for franchising. Many entrepreneurs take up franchises but they are not hugely successful because of the lack of entrepreneurship in the franchisee. In order to address this and many other aspects of franchising for entrepreneneurs, we decided to launch this program for the students of MICA's entrepreneurship development centre,” said Gautam Raj Jain, chairman, entrepreneur program, MICA.

The conjunction with MICA is the first initiative of this kind for IFA, which plans to announce similar ventures with other premier institutes shortly. "Through this program, we want the aspiring entrepreneurs among our students to go global in their ventures day one onwards," said Ashok Ranchhod, director, MICA.

With such initiatives of franchise education and on training and nurturing entrepreneurs on all aspects of franchising is a healthy sign for the franchise industry, we definately see the programme adding to the growth of franchising in India.Typically today the entrepreneurs are only subject to franchise websites, franchise magazines and franchise exhibitions where they get to meet the companies directly and are not able to correctly understand everything they need to before they get started with taking up a new franchise.We hope that the course will be able to highlight these issues and help the entrepreneurs