According to the results of the BUYBRAND Expo 2019 international franchise exhibition, involving 262 small and medium-sized enterprises from 19 countries, it can be said that entrepreneurs are continuing to actively invest in franchise business. In 2019, the total investment potential of the event visitors is over 70 billion rubles. Preliminary figures indicate that over 9,000 people are estimated to have visited the event over the three days.

The exhibitors include such well-known franchisors as Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Invitro, IL Patio, Togas, L’Occitane, Cofix, 1C, Gemotest, Shokoladnitsa, CoffeeShop, Fix Price, Piv&Co and others. The investment range of concepts varies from 1 to 50 (or more) million rubles, and the average payback period is from 9 months to 5 years.

Generally, business development through franchising is becoming a trend in Russia. This is largely due to the fact that franchises tend to be more stable during crises and in unstable economies, resulting in their increased popularity in difficult times. “During recessions, entrepreneurs prefer to invest in franchises rather than their own businesses. Every year, requests by Russian businessmen to acquire tried and tested concepts increase by 15-20%,” said Ekaterina Soyak, CEO of EMTG, the organizer of the exhibition.

Within the framework of the exhibition, Aleksey Fursin, head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of Moscow, met with entrepreneurs. He spoke about a new benefit program for franchisees. Support measures are intended for franchisees working exclusively under franchising agreements for no longer than 12 months. According to Fursin, the authorities deliberately decided to help beginner franchisees, as it is difficult for them to receive other support in terms of loans and equipment.

This year at BUYBRAND Expo, shared booths were organized by the delegations from the Altai, Buryatia, Udmurtia, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kursk, Tula and Omsk regions, as well as from Yugra. In addition, six franchises from Malaysia were presented for the first time: these are Marrybrown, Manhattan Fish Market, and Tealive restaurant concepts, Rotiboy bakery, Globalart education center and clothing brand Poney.

For the first time at the BUYBRAND exhibition, franchises of Lensmaster eyeglass stores, AVS Electro power tool stores, the Korean fast-fashion store chain Ximivogue, Fanagoria winery, the Russian express delivery company SDEK, Guinot cosmetology center and others were presented. On the first day of the exhibition, the bakery chain Hleb Nasushny officially signed the first franchising agreement with a franchisee.

The “Franchisor School” was available to those wanting to figure out how to develop a franchise business during the first part of the exhibition, while over all three days, top managers of franchisors, investment and legal franchise experts spoke to visitors of the exhibition at the site of the “Franchising and Investments. Big ideas 2.0” forum

Among them were: Boris Nuraliev, President of the RFA, Director of 1C; Stewart Lawson, Senior Advisor on Business Development, Services to the Financial Sector – Ernst & Young; Aleksandr Sorokoumov, General Director of SberCloud; Guillaume Jean Thierry Brouwet, CEO of Lensmaster, Kirill Kuzminskiy, co-founder of Pivzavoz GROUP (brand name – Piv&Co), Andrey Movchan, founder and CEO of Movchan's Group and others.

BUYBRAND Expo is a key event for the development of Russian small and medium-sized enterprises. Over 17 years, BUYBRAND Expo has been visited by 1300 companies and more than 110,000 entrepreneurs from more than 40 countries. Thanks to the BUYBRAND Expo, over 15,000 enterprises have opened in Russia and the CIS countries.

The exhibition organizer is EMTG. The exhibition has been held under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, with the support of OPORA RUSSIA and Moscow’s Small Business State Budgetary Administration.