SIF&CO franchise fair in Valencia: Thank you for the talks

The franchise fair at SIF&Co Valencia

Last Thursday and Friday Porta Mondial visited the franchise fair at SIF&Co Valencia and had the possibility to talk to the members of FIAF (Federación Iberoamericano de Franquicias).

FIAF is a federation of the Spanish, Portuguese and several Latin American franchise associations: Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela and the latest member Costa Rica.

We would like to thank the presidents and representatives of each association with whom we had the pleasure to talk. The pleasant and open conversations helped us to understand these markets a little better.

Launch of Porta Mondial Costa Rica

As Alejandra Vargas of Porta Mondial Costa Rica is about to get started on developing the region, the meeting with Karol Fallas, who represented the Chamber of Commerce in Costa Rica, was especially interesting.

“Costa Rica has about 221 franchise brands of which only 30 are local brands; more than half are originally from the USA and a significant number of Spanish brands have also entered the Costa Rican market”, says Karol Fallas. These facts lead us to the conclusion that a Spanish franchise brand does not have to take many hurdles in order to enter the market. Costa Rica’s membership in the FIAF demonstrates its keen interest in globalization and partnership with Spanish brands.

Green light for further expansion

Latin American countries offer great potential for European franchise brands such as Porta Mondial, since economies have been growing during recent years and unemployment rates remain low in most countries.

Number of franchise brands in each country

Origin of franchise brands

Mexico’s mature market has about 1,000 brands and is the second biggest market after Brazil (in terms of franchise systems). The majority of the franchise brands are of local origin; the other most important franchise brands are originally from the USA and Spain. Mexican franchise systems export to other Latin American countries as well.

Guatemala and Uruguay are small countries with a high percentage of foreign franchise brands which derive from the USA, Mexico and some European countries such as Spain. Venezuela, it seems, provides enormous potential as well, with only 450 franchise brands almost half of which are foreign.

We also learned that Brazil is the biggest market with high potential. However, it is much more difficult for foreign brands to gain a foothold without opening a franchisor-owned store. Of the 1,930 franchise brands, local franchise brands dominate, accounting for 95% of the Brazilian market.

In conclusion, we would like to say that these two days were an excellent basis for planning the further expansion of Porta Mondial in Latin American countries. We are convinced that Porta Mondial could enter the market successfully while networking with local partners, whom we got to know at the SIF&Co fair.

Source: FIAF statistics 2011
https://www.portalfiaf.com/estadisticas.asp