Franchise Information Centre

Budget 2015 may have been the first non-austerity budget in seven years, but it did little to encourage SMEs and entrepreneurship. Learn of the changes that were made which will benefit Irish franchisees directly and indirectly.

Read of John Rusnak's happy ending. The ex-currency trader famous for fraud has now gone to the other end of the scale and turned to franchising – an industry that relies heavily on honesty.

In his previous article, Alan J Gibson provided us with tips on how to find the right franchise for you. 'Play to your strengths', 'look in the mirror', 'choose with your head as much as your heart'...now all that contemplation is out of the way and the franchise hath been chosen, he gets down to business and explains what the practical steps are for getting yours up and running.

Alan J Gibson is an experienced franchise consultant with The Franchising Centre. In his latest article, he gives 10 excellent tips to consider when you are faced with the daunting task of choosing the right franchise for you.

Alan J Gibson, QFP, FCMI, is an experienced franchise consultant. He will be providing us with articles for the next few months, and in this one he takes a new approach to categorising potential franchisees into five different types, asking if they're suited for the task of setting up a franchise.

With less than a month to go to the halfway point of 2014, this is an ideal time to take stock of the year and your aspirations to set up your own business. Read the article that summarises perfectly how franchising provides the right candidates with proven systems, tools, training and support to help them combat the main reasons for business failure.

Starting and operating a new franchise is a challenge, and it takes certain material supplies to succeed.

It started off right here in Ireland in 1999. Now the Franchise Direct network has 15 years of experience generating online leads, and spans 13 websites in four languages globally. We set up Franchise Asia in December 2013 with the highly successful opening of an exclusive portal for the growing Indian franchise market, and today we are excited to announce the launch of our brand new franchise directories for Singapore and Malaysia.

On 14th and 15th February, the greatest franchise exhibition of the year was held in the ExCel Exhibition Centre, London. We just couldn't miss it, and three of our sales team travelled from Franchise Direct's European Head Offices in Dublin to set up stand and converse with franchise clients and potential franchisees. Here UK editor Ann-Marie gives us a day-by-day report on the whirlwind trip that they enjoyed so much.

For many, retirement is a daunting life stage to go through. Whilst some retirees cannot wait to enjoy the comforts of living according to their own rules and time, others become easily frustrated as their ambition didn't retire with them. This is when they can become a franchisee.