BUYBRAND 2008

Dear colleagues!

On October 2-4 in the Expocenter on Krasnaya Presnya in Moscow the VI exhibition BuyBrand took place. It is a unique international large-scale project, the only franchising exhibition in Russia and the largest Russian business event in the franchise sector organized by the exhibition and publishing company E.M.T.G.

The exhibition of franchise models was of particular importance today when the government pays close attention to the development of small and medium size business and encourages private enterprise.

E.M.T.G. Company presented the participants and guests of the exhibition over 228 advanced business conceptions in the area of real estate, restaurant business, services, consumer goods production from 26 different countries, among which were Russia, the USA, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Australia, Portugal, Turkey, Uruguay, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine etc.

The international business forum of the exhibition started with the plenary session The influence of franchising on globalization of economy. The following participants made their speeches: Sergey Borisov, the president of “OPORA Russia”; the chairperson of the consumer market development committee of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Alexander Borisov, the director general of the Moscow International Business Association; Alexander Mayler, the president of the Russian Franchise Association.

Among the participants of the discussion were Albert Kong, the president of AsiaWideFranchise from Singapore, Rolf Kirst, the president of the German Franchise Association and Franchise Pool International; Severinas Zhilinskis, the director of the Lithuanian Franchise Center; Federico Fiorentini, the General Director of BRD consulting, the Italian Franchise Association board member.

The conference program of the exhibition covered a series of workshops and round table discussions on various topics. Among those were Effective management of a franchise network, Methods of successful franchise sale, and Consolidation of efforts of the franchise community to create favorable business climate for promotion of franchising in Russia.

Exhibitors and visitors of the exhibition were particularly interested in the workshop The entrepreneurial  spirit and the word of law – business and legal view on creation of a profitable franchise (the authors of the workshop are John Von Aiken and Michael Malloy, the leading experts in franchising).

One of the highlights of BuyBrand 2008 was a pilot project called ExpoRetail. This exposition was devoted to the technologies of retail trade places development and life support; it vividly presented the life of a large trade center. Among the presented materials were projects, architectural conceptions, equipment, design, video monitoring systems and even new ideas concerning “private label” sphere and space organization of food courts.

The 4th Annual Ceremony of the Golden Brand Franchise Awards was held on October 2.  It is the only commercial franchise award in Russia bearing the authority of a state award. This year the Award council has granted awards in six nominations:  “The Innovative Brand”, “The Socially Important Brand”, “The Outstanding Person in Franchising”, “The Franchiser of the Year”, “The Franchisee of the Year”, “The Golden Franchise”.  The following leading Russian specialists in economics, law, intellectual property and mass media took part in the work of the Award council: Natalia Vinogradova, the managing partner of the exhibition company “BUYBRAND”; Alexander Kostin, the secretary of the steering committee of Golden Brand Awards, the assessor of the Republican scientific research institute of intellectual property, the managing partner of consulting and research center of intellectual capital LABRATE.RU; Valentina Shipovalova, the author and conductor of BUYBRAND workshops, a professor of the Moscow State University, the leading consultant of BARCLAY agency; Irina Zagert, a member of the RCA, the president of an audit firm “FEMIDA-AUDIT”, the chairperson of the expert council, the chairperson of the Committee on interaction with  internal auditors; Alexander Mayler, the chairperson of the RFA board; Oleg Solodukhin, the vice-president of CROS Company, Andrey Lapshov, the president of the communicative group INSIDERS, the president of the Russian representative office of the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATORS; Dmitry Solopov, the creative director of the management company JOINT MEDIA.

This year the award winners of “Golden Brand” have been:

• “The Golden Franchise” – Sela Corporation (the Sela brand)
• “The Franchiser of the Year” – Westland Company (the Westland brand)
• “The Franchisee of the Year” – Continent of Fashion Company (the Incity brand)
• “The Innovative Brand” – Rosinter Restaurants Corporation (the Sushi Planet brand)
• “The Socially Important Brand” – The independent laboratory Invitro (the Invitro brand)
• “The Outstanding Person in Franchising” – Felix Albert (the Hirsh brand, Russia)

Also the Buy Brand. Franchising in Russia Magazine and the Russian internet library of mass media Public.ru granted its special award “For professionalism” to the PR-management of Rosinter Restaurants Corporation.