On September 27–29, the 20th anniversary BUYBRAND Expo international franchising exhibition was held at Expocentre in Moscow, with support from Moscow’s Small Business State Budgetary Administration, and fintech exhibition partner Fast Payments System (FPS). The event was attended by approximately 170 federal and regional franchisors. More than 23 regions of Russia presented their franchises, including: Samara, Khabarovsk, Arkhangelsk, Chelyabinsk, Amur, Kaliningrad, Magadan, Novgorod, Saratov, Omsk, Vologda, and Moscow Regions, the Republic of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and others.

More than 3,500 people attended over the three days of the exhibition. Visitors came from Moscow and Moscow Region, the Central, Volga, North-Western, Southern, North Caucasian, Siberian, Ural and Far Eastern Federal Districts, and about 3% of guests were from Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Armenia, Iran, and Israel. This year, there was a high quality composition of the exhibition audience – the majority of visitors were potential franchisees ready to take a decision to buy. According to results of a survey at the exhibition, their proportion was 85.7%.

“The exhibition in this difficult time managed to retain its format, the number of participants, and interest from visitors. Despite the external situation and instability, we attracted a quality audience, ready to launch business under the guidance of experienced franchisors. This confirms that we make the right indispensable product, demanded by Russian entrepreneurs, and we that we should continue,” said Ekaterina Soyak, founder of BUYBRAND EXPO.

In this year’s three-day program, BUYBRAND 2022 conducted over 20 sessions in the Business Program devoted to all areas of franchising, with over 100 experts and industry professionals participating in discussions.

Every year, BUYBRAND presents up to 35% of the new products on the franchising market. This year, BUYBRAND EXPO confirmed its status as an effective presentation platform for announcing the launch of franchising business and partnership programs. Among franchising market debuts at this year’s exhibition were ITAN dental clinic chain, “Success in your hands” children’s business school, and HoReCa segment media brands STARS COFFEE (formerly Starbucks) and PIMS. When asked about plans to launch the chain’s franchise, Ernesto Gonzalez, Managing Partner of STARS COFFEE, said that “franchising is the right and an effective way to develop the chain, and STARS COFFEE is discussing this possibility internally.” This year, the chain will focus on business processes and setting them up. The franchise will be launched in the second half of 2023.

The training formats for franchisors and franchisees – “Franchisor’s School” and BUYBRAND CLUB – attracted around 100 participants from all regions of the country and received a great positive response. BUYBRAND CLUB participants learned how to choose the right franchise, met with current franchisees, and received personal advice from an EMTG franchising consultant. Participants in the “Franchisor’s School” underwent a three-day intensive course where they received the knowledge necessary to launch their own business.

BLOGGER MEET, a new business platform at the exhibition where top Russian entrepreneurs conducted educational workshops, training sessions and interactive presentations, also received a great response. “This format is important. I’m glad I was able to tell young entrepreneurs about the mistakes I made myself that they can avoid in their future work,” said the platform speaker Yury Levitas, a restaurateur, co-owner of Black Star Burger, FREE & CO, and Chizhik-Pyzhik.

Exhibitors noted high business activity at their booths throughout the exhibition. Many managed to collect 50 to 300 applications for the purchase of franchises, and some companies signed agreements of intent during the three days of the exhibition.

Exhibition organizer EMTG specializes in exhibitions and congress projects in business to business format, and is also the managing company of BUYBRAND.RU electronic media (the first and only official media in Russia for franchising), BUYBRAND franchise rating, BUYBRAND EXPO, BUYBRAND Market, and VERSOUS. EMTG provides consulting services in the field of franchising.