Franchise guru aims to educate more potential entrepreneurs

MANILA, Philippines - Francorp’s CEO Alegria ‘’Bing’’ Sibal-Limjoco is overwhelmed by the success of the franchise concepts that Francorp Philippines has built over the last 14 years. Why not when it has generated over one million jobs!

“With at least one million jobs generated by franchising in the country today, the franchising sector is a perennial sunrise sector. We take pride in being a part of its success,” says Limjoco, Francorp’s chief executive officer.

Francorp Philippines is part of the worldwide network of Francorp International. Organized in 1996, it is today’s premier and leading franchise developer in the country with over 200 successful franchises developed or assisted at various stages of their growth. Francorp clients account for 25 percent of the established and reputable franchises in the Philippine market and reaches out to as many as 5,000 entrepreneurs nationwide annually.

Think of today’s biggest retail brands and you can thank Francorp for making them formidable.

According to the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) International Affairs Committee, a huge 58 percent of the Filipino franchise businesses abroad are food brands including Goldilocks, Jollibee, Max’s Restaurant, Pancake House, and Potato Corner. These are followed by retail branches (24 percent) such as Bench, Penshoppe, and Folded and Hung; and service franchisees such as Crystal Clear, Reyes Haircutters (18 percent). All of these brands had been developed by Francorp.

“What Francorp offers is a franchise system that ensures success. Some of the brands we developed have gone global and achieved growth beyond what our franchisors have expected,” adds Limjoco, who has been with Francorp since day one.

Starpreneur

Growing businesses isn’t new to Limjoco who has worked with the family-owned Phoenix Publishing and SIBS Publishing.

Limjoco’s stellar achievements in business franchising are hard to match. In 1998, she was the first woman president of the Philippine Franchise Association, and in 1997, the chairperson of the Philippine Retailers Association. She is also the first Filipina and Asian to earn the Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) title from the Institute of Certified Franchise Executive in the USA.

Recognized by Go Negosyo’s Joey Concepcion III as someone who has ‘’positive, enterprising mindset, passion and innovative skills who is able to gracefully balance life, family, pursuits, and service to community,” Limjoco will be awarded as one of Go Negosyo’s “Filipina Starpreneurs”. She was also recently tagged by FemaleNetwork.com (under Summit Media, publisher of The Entrepreneur Magazine) as the country’s “Franchising Guru” being a finalist for the Business Sector in the first ever Womanity Awards that seeks to honor Filipina women of outstanding accomplishments who have inspired by using their talents, skills, resources, and abilities to succeed in their fields, help others, and make a difference in today’s society.

Training is the key

Limjoco is most glad to share franchising success stories via fora and seminars to Filipinos not only here, but overseas. “One of my advocacies is to educate potential franchisees about the benefits of the business. Some are so eager to part with their hard-earned money and get-rich promises of scammers who have small advertisements in the classified section. They have to know what franchising really is, and get advice from professionals.”