New era for Franchising

The British Franchise Association (bfa) has appointed two franchisees to its Board of Directors. On the 18th of February the bfa, which has represented franchisors since its inception more than 30 years' ago, opened its top governing body to franchisees that own and run their own businesses under agreement with the owner of the brand and business system: their franchisors.

The bfa has also increased the number of Affiliate Board Directors to two from the professional support sector, including solicitors, bankers, consultants and others who provide professional services to the franchise community.

All part of a development strategy for the bfa, named One Vision, these appointments were made in response to an overwhelming supporting vote at the bfa's AGM at the end of 2009.

The bfa's new Board Members are Ken Bevis, the franchise owner of Signs Express in Grimsby; Justin Brookes, the franchise owner of Mail Boxes etc in Headington, Oxfordshire; and Graeme Jones the Head of Franchising for RBS Group offering financial and associated services to the franchise sector through both NatWest and RBS.

The bfa is the voluntary regulatory body for the franchise sector in the UK which is now worth more than £11 billion to the economy through 34,600 franchise owners working with more than 830 brands. Those well known to the public include McDonald's, Burger King, Bang & Olufsen, Cash Generator, Clarks Shoes, Dyno-Rod and Toni & Guy.

Brian Smart, Director General of the bfa, said: "These are important times for the bfa and the franchise industry as a whole. Not only have we increased the voice of our valued professional advisors in the industry, but we have now directly engaged with franchisees in a way that has never been done before in the UK".

"This marks an important step forward in our developments which will allow us to speak to government on a UK and international stage with even power than before. With the continuation of this work we hope to soon be in a position where we are directly representing thousands of small and medium sized business across the entire country".

Mr Jones, Mr Bevis and Mr Brookes will all now play an important role as voting members of the bfa Board to further push forward these developments. This includes a selection of newly formed committees and the developments of a whole new structure to engage with the thousands of franchisees across the UK that are represented by the bfa's franchisor members.