T

hree hundred domestic and foreign franchisors, including McDonald'€™s, KFC and K-Drink, have been promoting their brands at a three-day expo in Jakarta, eyeing further business expansion.

Through the expo, they were trying to attract the country'€™s entrepreneurs, whose numbers are reportedly growing by more than 10 percent each year.

The expo, the Franchise and License Expo Indonesia, is an annual event and ended on Sunday. According to the organizer, the franchise business has boomed in Indonesia in recent years and will continue to grow despite the ongoing economic slowdown.

'€œVisit any city in Indonesia and you will find franchise [outlets],'€ said James Boey, general manager of Reed Panorama Exhibitions, the organizer of the expo.

Boey said his company had organized the expo to connect franchisors with investors and entrepreneurs.

He added that franchises were a good option for people wanting to run a business amid today'€™s global economic downturn.

'€œA franchise is a strong and reliable business. They can survive in any circumstances,'€ Boey said at the opening of the expo at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in Central Jakarta on Friday.

Levita Supit, chairwoman of the Indonesian Franchising and Licensing Society (Wali), said that Indonesia, having a huge population, was a promising location for franchise businesses. The increasing number of foreign franchises in the country is an indicator that the Indonesian market is huge and promising for franchise businesses.

'€œFranchises will continue to grow in this country,'€ she told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the expo'€™s opening ceremony.

Levita explained that franchise businesses in Indonesia had been driven by young entrepreneurs over the last six years, claiming this was a positive sign as franchise businesses badly needed the creativity of youth.

'€œWe should give a thumbs-up to [young people],'€ she said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) said that franchises could become a way to help the economy during difficult times.

'€œFranchises could be a solution,'€ said Amir Karamoy, chairman of Kadin'€™s Franchise and Licensing Committee. He added that the existing 698 franchises in Indonesia created no fewer than 200,000 new jobs every year.

Amir therefore urged the government to formulate policies that would strengthen franchises and create more jobs. The government, he said, could start by taking franchises as a model for business development at the regional level.

He also encouraged the government to introduce franchises as an alternative to capital investment, currently the more popular choice.

'€œPeople do not know that capital gains from franchises can be higher,'€ he said. '€œWe in Kadin have carried out calculations, and the profits [from franchises] are eye-opening,'€ he said, though declined to detail any figures.

Meanwhile, the Trade Ministry said the government was now trying to shift from supporting natural resources-based businesses to encouraging the entrepreneurship sector, including franchises.

'€œOne of our initiatives is providing room to franchisors to promote themselves at both international and regional expos,'€ said the ministry'€™s logistics and distribution director, Jimmy Bella. (saf)