Limjoco: Key reforms to boost franchising industry

MANILA, Philippines – The time is ripe for interested franchisees to start scouting for the best business deals, as the Duterte administration vowed to streamline the process of doing business in the Philippines and start reforms on taxation.

Individuals who would like to venture in franchising are now, more than ever, on the winning end of the bargain, as President Duterte and Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez have promised to remove the bureaucratic red tape in government processes.

Specifically, the administration assured businessmen that business processing would be cut from 90 days to a day or three.

"This promotes the ease of doing business in the Philippines, hence increasing consumer and investor confidence in the country," Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) vice chair and Francorp Philippines CEO Ma. Alegria “Bing” Sibal-Limjoco said. "People are so excited to do business now."

Limjoco noted this is reflected on the turnout of budding franchisees that attended the recently concluded Franchise Asia Philippines 2016 Conference and Expo which ran from July 20 to 24 at the SMX Convention Center Manila. 

"We are 35 percent higher than the turnout last year," she enthused. "This means that consumers are now more confident of the brands, and investors are now more confident in investing."

Limjoco also lauded the President for ordering the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to stop the repeated reviews on the corporate tax filings of companies.

"Duterte said tax submissions will only be done once a year, compare that to the previous questioning done in the past. No business wants to repeatedly report its taxes to the BIR. We want to focus on our daily tasks," she explained.

With these reforms, she expects the franchising industry to expand in the vicinity of 15 to 20 percent.

"For us, we place it in a conservative 15 to 20 percent growth. We would like to keep it that way first," she stressed. "We are now the franchise hub of Asia."

Despite being happy about the current reforms, she however said much has to be done in terms of legislation, including the Barangay Micro Business Enterprises Act of 2002 or the BMBE Law.

"We want to promote our micro small and medium enterprises. The BMBE Law is going to help the small entrepreneurs," Limjoco emphasized.

The law allows businesses with assets worth less than P3 million to be exempted from paying income tax.

Global brands

Bing, as she’s known to business industry friends, is the chief executive of Francorp Philippines, the company that helped a number of successful franchises in the Philippines. Brands such as Jollibee, Max’s Restaurant, Goldilocks, Penshoppe, The Generics Pharmacy, Potato Corner, Reyes Haircutters, Pancake House and Bench, among many others, owe their success to the Francorp bigwig.

Francorp Philippines is part of the worldwide network of Francorp International. Organized in Manila in 1996, it is today’s premier and leading franchise consulting firm in the Philippines, with over 350 successful franchises developed or assisted at various stages of their growth.

The company’s franchise clients account for a quarter of the total franchises in the Philippine market. Francorp works nationwide with as many as 5,000 entrepreneurs a year through franchise seminars, events, media and other marketing activities.

“In 1995 Philippine Retailers Association gave birth to the Philippine Franchise Association. The year after, I, with partners Samie Lim and Manny Siggaoat, brought in Francorp from Chicago, USA, to Manila,” she said. “With this, I, as the CEO of Francorp, have built many successful brands from obscurity to solid, great brands.”

Together with other PRA executives led by the country’s franchising and retailing stalwart and the universally acknowledged Father of Philippine Franchising Samie Lim, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Franchise Association and Philippine Retailers Association, Limjoco founded PFA.

For more than two decades, the franchising organization has expanded its members from less than a hundred to more than 300 members at present, mostly from the consumer food, services, fashion and apparel sectors.

“We have created thousands of entrepreneurs and created millions of jobs through franchising,” she said.

Mother of Philippine franchising

Over the years, Bing’s name in the franchising industry continued to bloom. Today, aside from being a director of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, she’s also  the vice chairman of the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA), and the vice chairman of Philippine Retailers Association.

She was also the first Asian and Filipino to receive the certified franchise executive title from the US Institute of Certified Franchise Executives in 2003.

“I became a business minded woman when I studied in New York. Studying overseas makes you more active, competitive and business-minded because you have to prove what you are despite the discrimination. That way, I become engaged in business and served my father in the publishing industry,” she shared. 

Her family owns one of the country’s largest texbook publishers, Phoenix Publishing and Sibs Publishing.

Bing, who’s married to businessman Angel “Dodi” I. Limjoco with kids Ria, also a franchise executive and franchisee, and Gio, a law student at San Beda College, once dreamed of becoming a diplomat.  But she got her wish in a different field as she now represents the Philippines in international franchising events and is effectively the country’s “franchising ambassadress.” She is also regarded as the “Mother of Philippine Franchising.”

Bing earned her AB Foreign Service degree from St. Theresa’s College, Interior Design from the New York School of Interior Design, and her Masters in Business and Economics from the University of Asia and the Pacific  (UAP).  She took her mini MBA in Franchise Management at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, USA  and at the Asian Institute of Management, which are accredited by the Institute of Certified Franchise Executives (ICFE) in the United States.

And she he has reached the apex of all her hard work and dedication when the PFA honored her with the lifetime achievement award as  “Woman icon of franchising” last Sept. 30, 2015 during the Franchise Excellence Awards Night.

With her advocacies at PFA and PRA, the franchise industry has now become a preferred investment option, contributing $13.6 billion or 30 percent of retail outputs as of 2014.  With an expected 20 percent growth until 2016, franchising has created more jobs and businesses, making the Philippines the franchising leader in Asia.

“I must say I have achieved my dream. What a fulfillment in life it is to create successful brands,” she said.