The Franchising and Licensing industry recently received a shot in the arm, with the groundbreaking announcement of the Franchise Assist programme inaugurated by The Franchising and Licensing Association Singapore (FLA) 12^th of July, 2010. The announcement was made in conjunction with the launch of the FLA Awards 2010 Nominations. The good news was delivered by the new chairman of FLA - Dr T Chandroo, who also successfully manages the global brand of pre-schools - Modern Montessori International (MMI) - which spans a network of pre-schools and early childhood teacher training courses with more than 35 schools in 77 countries worldwide.

Now in its 6^th year, the FLA Awards are given out to companies and individuals who have demonstrated exemplary capabilities - and had made significant strides in the franchising sector in Singapore. They are designed to motivate entrepreneurs and promote the use of the franchising as an avenue for growth and expansion, for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The FLA also introduced a new award category - The Franchise Star Award - to recognise the success of the franchise industry here and overseas.

FLA officially kicked off the nominations for the FLA Awards 2010 by holding a media conference and lunch at the Manhattan Fish Market (MFM) restaurant in Iluma@Bugis.

FLA Awards Nomination Launch @ Manhattan Fish Market, Iluma, Bugis

The event was well attended by members of the media, representatives from key government agencies like SPRING and IE Singapore as well as members and business partners of FLA. The attendees included others such as banks, financial institutions and many others that support the booming franchising and licensing industry in Singapore.

Delivering the keynote address, Dr. T. Chandroo, the newly elected Chairman of FLA, touched on how individuals and enterprises should leverage on the Singapore brand and the country's reputation for efficiency and transparency.

The FLA has also embarked on some groundbreaking initiatives to promote franchising as an engine of expansion and growth for SMEs.

Dr T. Chandroo delivering the keynote address

Dr. Chandroo also expounded on his vision for the association -- to expand its membership by a third to 200 in two to three years, covering a broader diversity of sectors such as education, retail, consumer services, healthcare and technology. 


In the pipeline are potential tie-ups with major banks and other financial institutions to offer attractive financing schemes to its members. Also there are other collaborative endeavours to address the key challenges facing local franchisors in Singapore such as access to capital and manpower development.

This new thrust by the FLA reflects the vision of FLA's new chairman and its members to elevate Singapore to become Asia's franchising hub. While there are some renowned Singapore brands with franchise success stories such as Breadtalk Group and Sakae Sushi, the industry is continuously aspiring to even higher standards of competence and excellence in franchising and licensing. Backed by one of the most robust legal frameworks and intellectual property (IP) infrastructures, Singapore is an ideal hub for promoting of franchising and licensing in Asia. This coupled with the strong economic rebound and increasingly positive consumer sentiment makes franchising prospects here very attractive.

The FLA is ideally positioned to spearhead the development of the franchising sector, pushing the industry to greater heights.

Ms Terry Wong, General Manager of FLA, also gave a presentation highlighting various aspects of the FLA Awards including eligibility criteria for potential nominees. The closing date for FLA Awards nominations is on the 16^th of August 2010. The winners will be announced on 21^st of October during the FLA Awards 2010 gala dinner that will be held at the Marina Mandarin Singapore.

For further details on the FLA Awards, please log on to the Association's official website at http://www.flasingapore.org/.