bfa CELEBRATES SIR BERNARD INGHAM’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY AS PRESIDENT

Media Release - 19 October 2004

The British Franchise Association (bfa) will mark the 10th anniversary of its President Sir Bernard Ingham with a reception, hosted by the Royal Bank of Scotland, on Wednesday, October 6, during its National Franchise Week.

Sir Bernard Ingham is most famous for being Margaret Thatcher’s Chief Press Secretary and she is on record as saying he was “the best press secretary in the world”. He began his career as a journalist on The Yorkshire Post working his way up to The Guardian. He also worked for the Civil Service, before his stint with Mrs Thatcher, and then joined the bfa as its Honorary President in 1994.

When Sir Bernard joined the bfa there were just 414 franchise brands operating in the UK and the number of franchisees totalled 26,400. Today, the industry is worth nearly £10 billion, almost double what it was back in 1994, with 700 franchise brands and 34,000 franchisees operating across 13 business sectors.

Sir Bernard Ingham said: “I have always taken my function as president, divorced from executive responsibility and policy making, to throw out ideas for consideration. In that, I can claim some success and I am grateful for successive executives for taking some of my ideas seriously.”

In his 10-year presidency, Sir Bernard has seen the bfa achieve many feats, including a greater profile in Brussels and internationally and the establishment of a successful National Franchisee Forum, which Sir Bernard chairs and said of its members that they “have shown themselves to be bold and open-minded”.

“If there is one area where I am inordinately pleased with myself as your President, it is in the reaction of the executive to my early canvassing of the idea of the bfa as a three-legged stool – one as the central, authoritative representative body for British franchising; second, as the representative body of franchisor interests; and third, more controversially, a forum for franchisees of member franchisors to make their contribution to the development of franchising.”

Looking towards the future, Sir Bernard encouraged the bfa to set up a franchising research programme with universities; raise its profile in the wider community, including the government; and make the bfa the kite mark for quality in British franchising.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

The bfa is the home of ethical franchising, with a membership base of 248 franchise brands covering 13 industry sectors. For more information visit our website www.thebfa.org

1. The British Franchise Association (bfa) evolved from the franchise industry itself in 1977 as the only voluntary accreditation body for franchising in the UK. Its remit was and is to develop and continuously improve the standards of good practice in franchising and to accredit franchisors that meet these standards. Many organisations say they are ‘franchisors’ - not all are, and not all are accredited by the bfa.
2. From humble beginnings back in 1977 with eight founding member franchisors, the bfa has grown to represent more than 250 franchise brands today, with around 15,000 franchisees operating in a bfa-accredited franchise network across the UK.
3. The UK franchising industry has a turnover of £9.65 billion, employs more than 330,000 people and is responsible for introducing approximately 3,000 new small businesses into the UK each year.
4. Last year 95 per cent of all franchisees reported profitability, with 97 per cent of franchisees operating their business for five years or more reporting profitability.

For further information please contact the bfa on tel: 01865 379892, email the bfa's Marketing department.