FinHow

Franchise India organized Franchise India 2013 Expo on 19th and 20th of October (Saturday and Sunday). The fair was organized in Pragati Maidan Hall No. 12 and 12A. The fair could pull a large crowd and I felt that crowd did not feel cheated by this event.

Positives

1. There were a lot of franchise opportunities and vendors to talk business with prospective business owners. As per the Event Manager expo.franchiseindia.com, there were 205 exhibitors and 400+ business opportunities. I can tell that the exhibition was so huge that one may not meet each exhibitor in 2 days.
2. The variety of business opportunities was large. Areas of business covered in exhibition included:
   1. Health care and diagnostics
   2. School, pre-school, learning
   3. Dance and music schools
   4. Grooming, saloons and spa
   5. Modular kitchen designers
   6. Food – organic, fast food, packaged, raw, cooked. There was even a proposal for buying an ice cream truck
   7. Real estate and real estate consulting
   8. Self defense
   9. Software developers, Software as Service Providers, website developers/optimizer and royalty program managers
   10. Laundry store
   11. Clothes – apparel, sarees, lehenga
   12. Shoes
   13. CNG Kit
   14. Tyres
   15. Other general retail merchandise
   16. Jewellers
   17. Consultancy and Legal
3. There were demos of business and business opportunity.
   1. Electrolux was washing clothes
   2. A food stall was making a chocolate dosa.
   3. Shopify was giving a session on ecommerce.
   4. SFL was showing a big screen with Shilpa Shetty and fights
   5. There were many such showing
   
   
4. Celebrities were called to spice up the event. Super Fight League (SFL) had invited Raj Kundra for the event.
   

   Raj Kundra in Franchise India (Click to Expand)

5. Basic amenities for participants and visitors were taken care of well:
   1. Washrooms and drinking water facilities were prominently marked
   2. Ice Cream stalls were offering ice cream for taste. If one tastes ice cream from multiple vendors then one can keep himself energized.
   3. Food was on the offering for a fee for participants and visitors.

Negatives

1. If one missed to get print out of the entry form then entry fees of Rs 500 was charged.
2. There still seems chances for someone to enter the hall without paying an entry fees from the back door. This is a positive for someone who found the back door entry and negative for those who had to shell out Rs 500.

Interesting Observation

It looked that Real Estate exhibits were maximum. However, upon taking further look I realized that the categories in number of exhibits were as follows:

1. Food
2. Education
3. Real Estate

Conclusion

Overall, the exhibition provided a platform for businesses to find their franchise partners and common people to find business opportunities. The time spent in the exhibition was time well spent for such interaction.