International franchising conference on April 19th at Serbian Chamber of Commerce

The international conference "Franchising - a Tool for Promoting Economic Cooperation among BSEC Countries" will be held on April 19th at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC), Marica Vidanovic from the SCC Franchise Center announced.

As she pointed out in a statement to Tanjug, the conference is held within the framework of Serbia's presidency over the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) organization, and its aim is to motivate unemployed people and entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises and large companies to improve their current businesses or embark on new business ventures.

According to estimates, there are 110 franchise brands (25% of which are domestic), 1,550 franchise stores and 18,550 people employed by franchise businesses in Serbia.

Franchising is a highly developed form of operations that is present all around the world and is being constantly upgraded. It now slowly enters Serbia as well.

However, Serbian businessmen's awareness of advantages of franchising is still below the level it should be.

Ms. Vidanovic said that the organizer of aforementioned conference was SCC, adding that the event would gather the most eminent franchising experts from the region, including Svetlana Knyazeva, executive director of the Russian Franchise Association, Sotiris Yanakakis, a legal expert from the Greek Franchise Association, and regional expert Ljiljana Kukec, president of the Croatian Franchise Association.

- This conference is a unique opportunity to transfer knowledge, all with the aim of creating a network of new franchisees who get to keep their business independence while operating under the name of a famous and well-positioned franchisor - Vidanovic stressed.