Franchising is a unique and an underappreciated area in Nigeria. It is the second largest job creator in the United States of America and contributes about 20 percent to South Africa’s GDP. It offers many advantages to businesses and offers growth potential to the franchisor while also offering economic and wealth opportunity to the franchisee. Its impact on employment is exponential on the community it is found, thereby contributing significantly to per capita GDP.

The US Department of Commerce Report in 2019 has projected that Nigeria has the potential of earning 100 billion dollars annually from franchising.

Lagos enjoys the largest percentage in consumer focused businesses in franchising, retailing and products distributorship. It is home to 3.2 million MSMEs* and contributes significantly to employment and economic growth.

Lagosians are natural entrepreneurs, usually running small and medium sized businesses in multiples or in conjunction with other full-time jobs. Most of these businesses are not structured, and can be in a single location for years. This style of business by Lagos entrepreneurs undercuts business expansion, job creation, creation of new businesses and creation of women entrepreneurs. Statistically, women prefer franchise businesses because of the availability of business systems, thereby making it easier to launch and grow.

Therefore, this project aims to build on the entrepreneurial capacity of Lagosians and help build structured, scalable and successful businesses.

* Source: SMEDAN