School Franchising

A number of ‘International Schools’ have sprung up in India. Today, there are a number of such schools in major cities of the country including New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and different parts of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. International schools are characterized by their state-of-the-art infrastructure equipped with air-conditioned classrooms, digital libraries, sprawling playgrounds and cosmopolitan school building and education at par with global standards. Setting up an International School can involve huge investment of money, time and efforts. However, if you feel that you can open an International School and outshine amidst others in the field, then read on. Here are the Key Requirements to Open an International School Capital, which may range from Rs 2 Crores onwards, depending upon the facilities you wish to provide in your International School Formation of Trust or a Society that would run your school Choice of site and land for the construction of your International School’s building Permissions from the state government for the construction Affiliation/recognition from CBSE, ICSE or state Education Board Expenditure on advertising and promotional activities Here is the Procedure to Open an International School First, prepare a detailed and comprehensive business plan for opening your international school. The business plan should be a working model of your school. Next, arrange the budget required. The capital investment for starting your International School may be anywhere from Rs 2 Crore to Rs 3 Crores. This may be even higher, depending upon the infrastructure of your school. You may approach a private financer, financial institution or a bank to get loan for opening International School. After the funds have been arranged, you may form a Trust or a Society that would administer your International School. The Trust should be registered in accordance with the Indian Trusts Act, with minimum 3 individuals as its Trustees. The next step is to acquire the land required to open International School. You will require at least 2 to 3 Acres of land to start your school. The land can be either leased or purchased property. Now, it is the time to get NOC from the state government and then start construction of your International School’s Building. You need to plan it out. You may approach an authorized architect registered with the Council of Architecture, to get approval for your school building’s plan and get guidelines about the positioning of the classrooms and other facilities. Once the construction, interior decoration and finishing work is over, you may start the process of recruitment of educators, administrators and support staff for your school. You need to recruit subject teachers, Principal/School Head, Vice-Principal, lab assistants, librarian, accounts executives and support staff for your International School. The final step will be to publicize the brand name of your International School, so that it gets noticed in your locality. Depending upon your budget, you may conduct advertising or marketing campaign that would help you promote your school. Starting an International School involves the aforesaid procedure. If you feel that it is a difficult and expensive task, then you may opt for other options, such as taking franchise opportunity from an already established International School. But, can an International School give franchise? The answer is YES. International Schools that are affiliated to a recognized Board can give franchise opportunities in India. Such schools are indulged in providing franchise to the budding entrepreneurs due to a number of reasons. Giving International School franchise provides the International School to grow and expand its network through its branches. Also, franchising allows the International School to ensure uniformity of procedures across branches, which in turn helps in enhancing productivity levels and better quality. On the other hand, the franchisees who take the franchise opportunity get to follow the business concept of an already established firm. Hence, giving and taking international school franchise is a fruitful venture. If you want to start an international school you may fill up the Franchise Application Form.

SCHOOL FRANCHISING Business franchising has received great attention in this country and for reasons that can well be justified. It serves an established business group or enterprise as well as a startup project or an entrepreneur. For an established business group, franchising offers the best practice to expand the business, and for an entrepreneur it gives leverage, a platform that has already been built. In the last couple of decades, school franchising in India has observed a cosmic growth. Some established schools and popular brands in India offer school franchising. The franchisee or the person investing capital and infrastructure is given exclusive rights to use the name and trademarks. School franchising has had an overall good effect on the society. Since the established schools or the franchisors have gone through all the stages of developing a school and the study center, the implementation of the same standards is easy and practical. One can find a lot of branches for different type of schools like preschools, primary schools, secondary schools and senior secondary. These branches may either be owned or administered by one core group or may be existing as the franchisee units, operated by the franchisees. Investing in schools or education in itself offers a great opportunity in India. This country has a great demand for the primary and secondary school educations. The schools are few and fewer are the ones that provide quality education. Investing in a school is also a long time investment. A successful school continues to give benefits for endless times. Therefore, profits are recurring and accumulative in nature. It is due to this reason that school is sometimes considered or counted as an asset. As we have discussed different types of schools; the investments depend on the establishment of any of these types. For preschools and nursery schools investments are low and school franchising helps a lot. For primary secondary and senior secondary, investments are generally higher. Further, it depends on the franchising model as well; as some franchisors ask for more capital, as security, development and other charges.

An interested individual or group may have a word with the business development team or go through the literature forwarded to him, but still some questions linger around in his mind – What benefits do I get as a franchisee and are they worth the investments I make. The professional at the other end of the telephone line may sound coaxing and moot a number of things which might sound new to the interested person. Therefore, it is either a “Yes” in haste or a big “No” in confusion. A franchisee has to get benefits and the ones, which can be concretely described and determined. Following are some of the benefits that franchisee enjoys after signing up the deal: Branding: As all of us know that it takes a lot of time to get branded and after tedious promotion and brand building exercises only; the franchisee enjoys the same from day one. The school of the franchisee is branded as one of the branches of the franchising school. Franchisors Support: The franchisor provides assistance and support to the franchisee, which varies from franchisor to franchisor. Generally the franchisor provides support as in design, training and the operations. Before enrolling the students and starting the operations, school franchisor gives the franchisee training about daily tasks, administration, proper running of the school and also on hiring and recruiting the staff. Promotions: Franchisors often run extensive promotion programmes and are fully aware as how to promote using different media channels and promotion tools. The franchisors may also be responsible for carrying out a detailed promotion programme for the franchisee. Curriculum and Programme Content: Franchisors also help in developing the curriculum for particular educational programmes that are offered by the franchisee. These are some of the major benefits that a school franchisee gets from the franchisor.

Kids School The education system varies in different countries of the world. But, there are more similarities as the objectives and goals of education are the same. The education system provides for three different levels – schooling, colleges and university. The university is considered to be the highest seat of learning. Schooling is further divided into sub categories like preschools, nursery, primary, high school, etc. Kids school is the one where small children aged 2 to 6 or 7 are educated. Kids school may be a preparatory school, nursery school or an integrated school that provides education and training for both preschool children and nursery school children. Presence of Kids Schools One might be interested to know as why kids school has to operate in a given system and what purpose do they really serve. Kids school is a special school as the children are young and new to the idea of learning. Kids school must receive a special treatment, which does not apply to our primary or secondary schools. That is why many establishments venture in kids school and keep it separate from primary schools. One of the most adopted school system is the K-10, pronounced as kay-ten. It refers to a school from kindergarten to grade 10. It has been observed that small children in K 10 schools do not receive the kind of education, as the administration and management has to provide for all the standards. One more factor that has led to the establishment of kids’ schools is their demand in the market. Parents have been demanding special care and educations for their kids, prior to their receiving the formal education. This has helped the concept of special kids school to grow widely. Starting a Kids School Starting a kids school is the most convenient among all kinds of schools. Kids school has a low enrollment ratio than primary or high schools. If the school provides for preschool kids only, the number of students enrolled remains close to 100. If the schooling is extended to include kindergarten levels, the numbers may go up to 200. Kids school does not require a large campus. It can be managed in a small building, but with adequate space for the children. There should be provisions for school lawn and playfield. So far as licensing and other official documents are concerned, they can be had easily and the procedures are often simple.

SHEMROCK School presented a unique model of business franchising about two decades ago. The model has been accredited by a number of agencies and the director also received a prestigious award for it. Keeping abreast with the times, the board and organisation has reviewed its policy form time to time and incorporated the necessary changes. Today, they have one more brand of schools, SHEMFORD Schools, to talk about and offer to the franchisees. The four best questions that people keep asking about and their replies are given below: Who is Investing the Money? SHEMROCK and other school chains often claim a great market and potential for extending preschool and primary school education to the franchisees. But who is investing the money? The answer is not much surprising – it is anyone with the capability of investing a relatively small capital and having a developed or undeveloped infrastructure. Though franchisees are offered to anyone with the necessary criteria of possessing the infrastructure and the financial strength, yet there is a process of selecting only those who can bear the responsibility and be accountable to the organisation. Are Franchisees offered in all regions in India? SHEMROCK has near 100 branches established all over India. There are some approved sites and regions, but overall franchisees are not restricted to particular regions. The organisation provides for all the states and cities and also the remote destinations, provided all other criteria are fulfilled. How can I know about the details of the Business Plan? You can send us a query and get all required information you wish to know. To help you with, we have our web resources and you can get details from them also. Or you can contact our business development team directly and they will provide you the required information. You can also make personal visit to our corporate office and have a word with the team. I don’t have time; can you mail me the Business Plan? If you are interested in opening your own school we suggest that you have a direct conversation with our business team. Such an interaction is aimed to remove all discrepancies and doubts. The business plan will be mailed to you on time and in the meantime you can call on the given numbers, which you will find in the Contact Us section.

As we move along the path of progress and development, new things keep happening. Some two or three decades ago, students used to vie for a professional course and quality education in the country. Today, it is the foreign colleges and universities that are trying hard to push in the country. Our schools have also witnessed developments and new concepts have been successfully implemented. Schools are getting more and more organized with the chains and reputed providers working to improve the system. An investor, who has the capital and commitment can join any time and be part of this remarkable development. The easiest way is to join as a franchisee. Franchisee and Education – The Causal Connection Starting a school is in fact a big task. There are a lot of procedures and processes involved. A lone investor or franchisee is indisposed to venture in because of the conception that lengthy procedures in government offices are involved. Some entrepreneurs even do not know about the kind of set up, affiliation or school they should be looking for. CBSE Schools CBSE School is one recognized school institution, which is affiliated to the board CBSE. Such a school is characterized by a number of features, which are made necessary by the board itself. The syllabus, methodology, examinations and certification of CBSE are well recognized and accredited by numerous institutions all over the world. It is an autonomous and self-sustaining board. What are the advantages of CBSE School? An investor or franchisee may want to know as why he or she should go for CBSE affiliation and not any other board. For their information, CBSE has become a brand that has been productive and successful in producing brilliant students. They are par excellence and the alumni have got adjusted in the best slots in the industry and professional bodies. CBSE schools are preferred by the students and the parents; meaning a lot of importance due to good public image. Help Desk For franchisee particularly, since the franchisor has already gone through the procedures and processes, the registration, affiliation and administration are all briefed about and necessary assistance is provided. There is no need of academic experience, except the know-how of how to manage and run the school. Even in these matters proper training is provided.

When we refer to franchise we mean business format franchise. Business format franchise is the model as per which the business model is shared by the franchisor with the franchisee. The latter is liable to some rights, ownership and operational rights, which ensure that the franchisee functions independently and as agreed by the franchisor and franchisee. The growth of school franchise in India has observed a regular incline in the previous decade. One of the growing trends is to establish a business that has a worldwide appeal. With the coming of foreign brands in the country, many entrepreneurs entered into franchise agreements with the known brands. As the franchise model demands lower capital investment, there has been mushrooming of popular products and services in the country. Not only this, certain Indian brands have also become very popular in the country and thus tempting the investors to enter into partnerships. Behind the success of franchise model for any type of business, there should are certain requirements that should be fulfilled. The prominent among them is the supply-demand function. School franchise in India has great prospects as the demand for the same is immense. India is the second most populous country in the world and the slot that is primary and secondary education offers innumerable opportunities. In the last two decades a number of school chains have been doing successful business and growing slowly and gradually. The growth of some of them has been majorly due to an established franchise model. There is crucial evidence in support of the argument and that is the growing demand. Private ownership and commercial enterprises have not been allowed to take advantage of the opportunities by the Indian government. The government has been apprehensive at it believes that commercial motives will create greater disparity among the children receiving the education. But it has been unsuccessful of handling the issue due to overabundant demand and lack of resources and infrastructure. The situation has compelled the government to provide for some flexibility. In the time to come there would be more interventions from the private enterprises and undertakings. Many institutions have already intensified their efforts. Since some schools have already made their presence in the country, therefore franchising and multiplying the units has become quite desirable. This is the story behind the growth of the popular school chains and the significance school franchise in India has been accumulating over years.

Since we have been having a very long time exposure with franchisees, we can tell you about franchisee of school and also the franchising system in the Indian context. Some two decades ago, most of the schools had just one or two branches owned by a particular trust or society. School chain was not popular in the country and the established schools were also not interested in expanding their units or branches. School franchising caught the real pace in India in the last decade of the century that passed. Some of the famous school brands offered and encouraged other people to invest their time and money and establish a branch of their own under the aegis of the popular brand. School Franchisee School franchisee is the owner of one or more than one school branches that has been franchised. The franchisee is bound by a franchisee agreement to operate the school as per the norms and conditions mentioned and is (the owner) entitled to the proprietary rights. People tend to get confused, as they are unable to figure out whether the profits, if there are any, are made by this unit owner or franchisee. As per government directives, school is registered under a trust or society and is said to have a non-profit motive. However, if the motive is to further the development of the education or school, there are no impositions. The owners or the board of directors do obtain profits and there are a number of ways and practices to do it. What does it need to become Franchisee of School? Franchisee of school does not need any eligibility at all. Anyone committed to run a school and willing to invest money can become a school franchisee. It is true that academicians can run a school in a better way, but given the orientation programmes and training by franchisor any person can be a successful administrator.

To the reader we must say that the articles you will read are meant to give a fair idea about franchising and will particularly help to know as how to franchise a school in India.. As you must have noticed the ideas have been represented from a franchisor’s point of view and primarily concerns the proposition of taking up a franchisee. In this article we aim to elucidate information about franchising a school and therefore would be addressing to those likely to become school franchisors. Franchising is in essence a commercial idea to expand business by allowing a kind of partnership. If you want to franchise products or any service, you must have in hand a working model of the business and good reputation in the market. Franchising a School in India An owner or administrator who has the proprietary rights of a school unit can franchise a school in India in the same manner. This may be done for two reasons: 1)Opening of new branches and therefore expansion 2)More coverage in terms of increased units Commercial Interests There is no doubt that the brand that intends to franchise a school in India does have commercial interests. But such interests are lesser in terms of monetary profit and more of adding value to the brand. A good example of it is the preschool chains. When a preschool chain opens a new branch its primary purpose is to extend the services to different parts of the country. How to begin? Ideally, the brand of school that aspires to franchise the units must have a reputation and popularity in any particular area that investors and entrepreneurs would themselves be seeking an alliance with the brand. However, lack of awareness, makes it unavoidable to market your brand of school. Therefore, the first step would be to advertise about your school and let people know that you are offering franchise opportunities. The second step, which has to be formulated even before the process begins, is to fix the royalty and franchise fee and the corresponding support that would be provided. Royalty and Support Services One thing worth noting is that the recurring royalty that is to be paid by the franchisee is unlike tax or anything like that. The royalty is like a fee to be paid for the promotion of the brand, for the assistance and support services and for overall value additions made to the brand. Entering into a Contract Once everything has been provided to the discretion of the franchisee and an understanding is arrived at, a legal contract that puts down the obligations of franchisee and franchisor is signed. This is how school brand can be franchised. There are many ways of going for the intermediate steps, like finding suitable people who can be good franchisees. Different organisations or franchisor follow different approaches, but the overall process remains the same.

Franchising, as most of us know, is a method of expanding the business by selling the ownership rights of a business unit or multiple units to any external agency or individual. Two common types of franchises are the business format franchise and product line franchise. A handful of school brands have become very popular in India. These schools offer excellent academic environment and their alumni occupy the prime positions in their respective professional fields and in the society. As their popularity spreads, it becomes easy for them to expand their reach by opening new school branches. There are two ways to do the same – open new branches themselves or franchise the school service. This is one of the most visible forms of franchise in school education. So far, popular schools have been successful in opening a few branches of their own, mostly in the same region or state. Yet a few school brands have successfully opened scores of branches and all over India with the help of franchise model. Franchise in school education in India School franchise model is much like a typical business format franchise. The franchisor is the owner and administrator of a renowned school. The franchisor has in hands an established branch, popularity, knows how of how to run a school, and offers the same to anyone who is interested in opening a school. Different franchisors ask for different requirements and therefore terms and conditions vary. However in every franchise contract you will find –an upfront fee or franchisee fee; royalty to be paid monthly, quarterly or annually; a list of requirements as land and building, infrastructure development fee, training fee (not mandatory), etc. Where to find School Franchise details? Normally, franchisors, especially those providing product-line franchise, organize events and exhibitions to invite the investors and entrepreneurs to be their franchisee. In school education, it does not happen this way. Instead the schools advertise and market in the regional media about partnering with other groups or individuals. Information can be found in some trade magazines or on the respective websites of any franchise brand. Thus franchise in school education is easily available in India.