He explained that franchising had become a big business in the United States of America (USA) and could be the next force to reckon with, if the necessary measures were put in place in Ghana.

“Most countries that have adopted franchising are doing well in their social and economic development,” Mr Jantuah said during a media training session by the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) in partnership with Voltic Ghana Limited in Accra.

The USA has 780,000 franchise businesses employing over 8.8 million people which account for over US$890billion, whereas Ghana and Nigeria record a paltry 100 franchise companies.

This, he said, called for the need to strengthen the system for the laws governing franchising to work and said Ghana had a long way to go in order to be stable in franchising.

“The country’s population is over 25 million with about 45 per cent falling within the working class.

Unemployment issues can be curbed, if government makes policies that ensure investment friendly atmosphere, to attract investors into the country,” he stated.

Emergence of franchising

Franchise is a business model where an individual operates out of the location of a larger more established company.

In this type of business arrangement, licence is granted to a person or business to use a name or business model of a larger organisation to operate.

Experts say franchising promote the brand and reputation of the franchisor by enforcing standards in the operations of the franchisee,and provide franchisees with training for use with their teams to ensure that all units’ staff understand their role in the franchised operations and have the skills to perform effectively in their operations.

Challenges

Although franchising is a good source of employment, it has its own challenges.

Good franchisees are not cheap, startup cost can range from not less than US$10,000 to US$1 million of funds.

However, since the model has the potential to employ a larger number of the youth, it is about time authorities took keen interest in it.