The rise of young stars in franchising

When you look at highly successful millennial entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Joe Wicks of The Body Coach and Ella Woodward of Deliciously Ella, you would think generation Y all have the ambition and startup spirit to be successful. However, there has been a downturn in the number of startup businesses run by younger founders. Many have considered launching their own business but very few are actually taking the plunge.

We know starting a business from scratch is no mean feat but using the franchise model to launch a company takes away many of the risks associated with going out on your own. Franchising offers initial training and ongoing support that can help bridge the experience gap and provide young, budding entrepreneurs with a platform into self-employment.
I spoke to two of our established franchisor brands about their approach to millennial and graduate recruitment and what initiatives they were implementing to support these groups.

National franchise manager of Snap-on Tools, tools franchise, Lisa Law said: “Supporting and encouraging young talent into the Snap-on network is something we’re passionate about because, quite simply, they’re driven people with a”willingness”to learn and adapt. A lot of”our”younger franchisees have come into the network after having worked as an assistant to an existing franchisee, meaning they’ve often witnessed success first-hand and are hoping to replicate that for themselves in their own territory. They also tend to have a great deal in common with their customer base and can build those lasting and professional relationships with their peers. We’ve seen a wealth of talent join the network in their mid-20s.”These people work hard, build their reputation and achieve top sales figures before they’ve even reached 30. They can then invest time and resources into developing their franchise, taking on assistants and second territories to help others like themselves.”

The WPA Healthcare Practice, the insurance franchise, has taken the decision to work closely with universities to educate students about the benefits of franchising with goals of recruiting graduates into the business. New practice development manager Daniel Wade said: “With programmes such as The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den, younger people are being encouraged to become entrepreneurs at an early age and we feel franchising can help with this. The skillset graduates possess fits our model. They’re often keen to learn new skills, great with technology and work well within a team environment. We fully understand that the biggest barrier for graduates entering franchising is the franchise fee which is why we offer a bespoke funding package for graduates where the cost can be split into monthly payments over a longer period.”This is a long-term commitment from us and hopefully the graduates we recruit will stay with us for a number of years and build really successful businesses.”

We also see loads of millennial success stories through our annual awards, with rising stars overcoming barriers and finding their own solutions to make franchising their future. Just one example is our recent Young Franchisee for 2018 Almas Adam of Right at Home who took on his franchise at 24 and excelled. This story highlights how young people’s enterprising nature can help the franchisor evolve and the franchisor’s experience, comprehensive training, support and mentoring in management, business and self-development enable success.
It doesn’t matter how old someone is – the values, passion and desire to succeed just need to be aligned.