The younger generation is joining the ranks of entrepreneurs in the franchising business, as evidenced by the visitors and participants of the Fifth Taipei International Chain and Franchise Exhibition, which kicked off yesterday with a record 120 exhibitors showcasing 380 booths.
"We were surprised to see so many visitors on the first day of the exhibition ? it looks like people have had enough of the soft economic days and dog-eat-dog job market last year," Lee Pei-fen (李培芬), secretary general of Association of China and Franchise Promotion (連鎖加盟促進協會), said yesterday.
In previous shows, the middle-aged group constituted the largest portion of visitors who have accumulated a small amount of capital from work. But Lee said she has observed a large number of young investors expressing interest in the franchise business lately.
Besides those who had difficulty finding jobs last year and are keen to open their own businesses now, another segment of young investors are those who have successful experience in running virtual stores, and seek to further their enterprises with brick-and-mortar businesses, Lee said.
Among the 120 brandnames participating in the exhibition, the restaurant business accounted for 60.4 percent, and attracted the most attention from perspective investors in previous years, Lee said.
"Low requirements for skills and high return rates are the key," Lee said. "Unlike some businesses that require skills, such as barbershops and language-learning institutes, restaurant investors often only need to follow the instructions of their central headquarters."
The star of this year's show was the NT$50 single-slice pizza shops that have been mushrooming in the streets in the past months. One pizza-by-the-slice retailer, Pizza Hot (熱到家), said that it received an overwhelming number of inquiries from visitors yesterday.
"I believe it is our successful business strategy that is attracting the attention of investors," said Viven Hung (洪麗娟), deputy manager of planning department at Pizza Hot, which opened in March last year and has a total 81 outlets nationwide and overseas. The company seeks to open another 20 to 70 franchises this year, Hung said.
"I think we will easily garner our targeted number of new franchises this year, judging from the `hot' responses," Hung said.
As disputes between company headquarters and franchisees occur frequently, Lee suggested investors carefully choose their companies and inspect terms and conditions before signing.
She also warned franchisees to comply with obligations stipulated in the contract, as many disputes have resulted from franchised stores that failed to uphold their franchise requirements.
One visitor to the exhibition showed a strong ambition about setting up her own business.
"I think this is a good time to open my own business, as the economy is reviving," said Cindy Chen (陳淑菁), a visitor to the exhibition who lost her job a few months ago in a company downsizing. "I can have my own store in a short time by paying small royalties without having to develop my own products or brand name ? this is a good opportunity."
The exhibition will continue daily until next Monday at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall I from 10am to 6pm. Admission is NT$200 for adults and NT$100 for students.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
RSS