World Franchise congress

As the CEO of Concept Eight, he leads a successful Australian restaurant franchisor that operates over 150 franchises in Australia and the USA, trading under six different brands and offering diverse cuisines and concepts. HE has been in this role for years, and have grown the company's revenue, market share, and customer loyalty through strategic partnerships, innovative marketing campaigns, and operational excellence. His mission is to build a culture of excellence, innovation, and collaboration within Concept Eight and across its franchise network, and to provide exceptional value and service to our customers and stakeholders.

Farah Khan-Ali has always been creatively inclined. Her sense of visual perception stimulates her senses to see design in the most least expected places. In her own words she says “I view the world around us from a different perspective. What necessarily is to others is not what I see it as. I am captivated by our natural environment and any form, shape that catches my fancy stimulates me to translate that inanimate thought into an animate object of beauty and art.”
Having designed for some of the top Bollywood celebrities and people from India's foremost business families, she insists on being a perfectionist who loves to please herself first so that so that she can eventually please her clients. She admits that she has to do everything well so that it all comes together eventually. With 21 years of focus and experience in this field, she still feels like a creatively inclined soul who happened to come into Jewellery Designing by chance, only to discover that she was born for it.

Born in Ireland, Ronan’s family immigrated to Zambia when he was 5. He experienced a fantastic explorative, practical upbringing which has help mould him to being a solution driven leader. Graduating from university with a degree in Psychology and public administration Ronan entered the world of franchising.
He has held senior roles in operations, franchise development, lease and feasibility studies and franchise sales and development. He has served on several industry boards in various countries and has grown brands to become market leaders with two of the companies he represented winning franchisor of the year. He has worked for several years in the commercial cleaning sector in the UK and brings with him his experience in coaching and developing franchisees as well as a high degree of discernment in franchise sales and recruitment.

A seasoned education and franchising industry executive with over 35 years of experience and proven financial and operational acumen in the adult learning field. If you’re interested selling your education business, whether franchised or not, please reach out. My opinions on education and training industry investing are often sought out and I am frequently quoted in the national media and industry publications and speak at industry conferences.

Larry Hughes co-founded Basketball Training Systems, Inc in 2016 with Richard Campbell. The same year he formed the Larry Hughes Basketball Academy in St. Louis, Missouri. Larry Hughes is a well-known professional basketball player, having played professionally in the NBA for 14 years. One of the most heralded basketball players to come out of St. Louis, he started his basketball career at Christian Brothers College High School, where he led them to the Missouri State Championship in 1997. He also led the St. Louis Eagles to an AAU National Championship, the summer prior.
Larry played one year of college basketball at Saint Louis University before being picked 8th overall in the first round of the NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1998. During his 76ers tenure, he and fellow guard Allen Iverson were nicknamed "the Flight Brothers", for their above-the-rim playing style. He was selected to the 2004–05 NBA All-Defensive 1st Team as a member of the Washington Wizards. He led the league in steals per game with 2.89 in 2004-2005. He signed a five-year contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers as a free agent in the summer of 2005, where he was brought in to provide assistance to young superstar LeBron James, the Cavs' first overall draft pick in 2003. While at the Wizards, Larry also played alongside of the all-time great Michael Jordan.

A serial entrepreneur, author and speaker, by the age of 40 I had built three multi-million-dollar businesses. My coaching and consulting methodologies are in practice in over 35 countries. This all came about after owning my first 2 businesses and realizing I would love to help people the way my business advisor had helped me. At the time a comprehensive coaching strategy system did not really exist in any organized way.
I began by donating over 1,000 coaching hours to those in need ranging from the homeless, military personnel, assisted living and nursing home recipients to students and emerging entrepreneurs. That not only aligned with my philanthropic values, it also helped me hone my skills as a pioneer and thought leaders in the coaching and professional services sector.
In 2002 I founded 7 Stage Advisors a Business Coaching, Mentoring, Performance Training and Growth Advisory company. Since then we have trained, certified or accredited over 7,000 Business Coaches and Mentors around the world. Methodologies have been integral to my clients becoming award-winning companies, many of them making the fastest growing list of both local and national publications, notably the Inc. 500 | 5000.

Gemma Bailey is the director of People Building Ltd, a personal and professional development company specialising in NLP training, coaching and products. She is also the director and franchisor for NLP4Kids Ltd and owns a high street therapy and coaching centre.
As a speaker, Gemma has delivered keynote speeches for Lloyds TSB, Microsoft (at the Hippodrome, London) and Avensure to name just a few. She is considered to be one of the best regular speakers for Interesting Talks, London and has delivered her training programmes all over the UK, Kuwait and Malaysia.
Her presentations are direct, informative witty and engaging. She is both extremely knowledgable in her subject matter, but also able to deliver in a comprehensible format, utilising universal experiences to evoke the interest of audiences at every level of business.

Rick Campbell co-founded Basketball Training Systems, Inc. in 2016 with NBA legend Larry Hughes. He has built several businesses over his career, all with an underlying purpose to make a difference in the world.
Richard started his career as a corporate finance lawyer on Wall Street in New York City in 1981 and practiced until 1994, during which time he was involved in several initial public offerings, mergers, acquisitions, project finance and corporate development projects. While attending law school, Mr. Campbell clerked for a Circuit Court Judge and in his final year of law school became an investment officer for Oakland County, Michigan. For several years following his tenure as a corporate finance lawyer, Richard was involved in the ownership and building of several companies including ILS Launch (commercial satellite launch company), Corbett Technologies (IT security company), GreenStone Industries (cellulose insulation manufacturer), and many others.

Lorraine Garvie is the CEO and Director of District32 – a business growth network with over 400 Members established in 2015 in Perth, Western Australia.
Lorraine, originally from Scotland, has been a business advisor for over 10 years and her absolute passion is education and inspiring business owners to reach new heights – believing in them before they believe in themselves.

Richard founded Sales Geek 7 years ago with a mission to change the way the world perceives sales. After a career which started at 16, he climbed to the dizzy heights of being a Global sales director of a $300m north American PLC. He’s sold cars, lights, electricity contracts and golf balls!
His real passion is in sales leadership where he forged out a career as a young sales leader with a data driven approach to building sales engines in organisations that deliver high growth. In the 7 years since sales geek was founded it has grown to a multimillion turnover company, won 9 awards and was listed in Northwest insiders 30 most exciting companies last year while Richard has been recognised in the Insider 42 under 42 list.
Sales Geek now employs 16 people from their offices at One Cathedral Square in Blackburn and has 39 franchisees in the UK and USA with plans to launch into new international regions in 2024.

With over 27 years of demonstrated professional experience in hospitality , brand management, business development , Franchise sales and value deliverables of sales , distribution and marketing with some of the leading international and domestic brands in hospitality sector, she has been able to carve my niche in the branded segment of Indian hospitality. A hotel operations person with a strong rooms division and reservation background with Hyatt Regency Delhi and Carlson Hotels moved to generate room sales for Radisson Hotel Delhi, National Sales Account Management for Oberoi Hotels and Resorts and was the Associate Director of Sales with erstwhile Grand Hyatt Delhi, now the Grand New Delhi and then with Choice Hotels India .
In her current role with Lemon Tree Hotels and Resorts, she has been responsible for business development and setting up the franchise model for the company as they go the asset-light association with franchising and distributing the brands of Lemon Tree and Keys Hotels, India’s largest mid-market hotel company, with over 100 operational hotels and more in pipeline .

Creator of the Triad of Success method.
Felipe was born into a family of entrepreneurs and learned from an early age the importance of working hard to achieve his goals. At 16, he had his first job as a dish and floor waiter at a fast food chain, Tacobell. Soon after, he worked at the essential oil company Aloha as a video editor, where he was able to develop content production skills.
Based on his entrepreneurial and life experience, Felipe created the Triad of Success method. This method is based on three fundamental pillars: faith, family and business. To achieve full success in life, it is necessary to cultivate these three elements in balance.

Peter Nikolakopoulos, Founder and Global CEO, Sport Star Academy (SSA), a multi award winning franchise business.
From a very young age sport has been a part of my life. As the youngest of four boys, I would spend hours at the park, playing until we were called home for dinner. In 1978, I joined the South Melbourne Hellas Football Club. I was only 7-years-old at the time but this sparked a lifelong passion for the sport.
In 1991, my childhood dream came true and I wore the Hellas jersey for the senior team. Alongside my love of football and sport, I pursued my interest in business. Over the years I have grown many successful businesses, first in the hospitality industry as a publican and then in the entertainment industry. Through my joint venture with Sanity Music, I ran the popular Sain Bar as well as all-age music events right across Australia.

Sausage Saloon is a hotdog brand that offers mouth-watering sauces, freshly baked rolls, and yummy goodness. They’ve taken the classic hotdog and elevated it to a new level. With over two decades of experience in serving world-class hotdogs, they have made a mark in the QSR industry

Sarah Cressall, OBE, is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur and founder of The Creation Station, the UK’s MOST recommended children’s activity company. Passionate about nurturing creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, Sarah has inspired over 1.8 million children and adults through award-winning arts and crafts classes, clubs, and events. The Creation Station supports 62 franchise partners worldwide. Sarah’s contributions to education and business have earned her numerous accolades, including an OBE from King Charles lll. Sarah is also a #1 best-selling author, a prominent figure in the children’s activity sector and a previous board member of the British Franchise Association. Living in Devon, England with her family, Sarah is committed to nurturing potential and inspiring imagination across all ages.

Troy Warfield is the CEO of The Social Gaming Group, and a Board Director of Surf Lakes. Prior to this he was the President, International for Topgolf, on the Executive Board of British Airways, Chief Commercial and Franchise Officer, Avis Budget Group International, Vice President Europe and Managing Director, UK and Ireland for Kimberly Clark, and Global Sales Director, UK and Australasia Customer Development Director, Category Director Deodorants, Skin Care and Cleansing UK, Marketing Manager, Australasia for Unilever.
He is a Fellow of both the IGD and Marketing Society of the UK. He has been active in charity work across Flying Start with BA, Comic Relief, Teenage Cancer trust, and Camp Quality

After studying (Politics) at the University of Exeter and a postgraduate from City University, London (Communications Policy), John worked at London brewer Taylor Walker. There, he took up the position of area manager and played an essential role in growing the business’s parent company, Allied Domecq. The experience he built up in the alcohol and quick service restaurant sectors meant he was well placed to accept a position at Wetherspoon when the opportunity arose. Like much of Wetherspoon’s workforce, Hutson worked his way up the company hierarchy. He started as an area manager in 1991 when the company owned 21 pubs. Before being promoted to general manager and then operations director in 1994. In 2004, he became Wetherspoon’s CEO, as founder Tim Martin stepped back from leading the business. During his time as CEO, Hutson has overseen the development of Wetherspoon's food services, improving the standard of meals and making sure all branches are equipped with a high-quality kitchen. He has also been a key figure in the company’s expansion into the valuable breakfast and coffee markets. Believe it or not, Wetherspoon now sells as much coffee as Caffé Nero. Overall, Hutson’s period of leadership has seen Wetherspoon establish itself as one of the most successful pub companies in the UK.

Mac Srinivasan, is the BNI GLOBAL MARKETS PRESIDENT. He supports operations for BNI Company Run Countries and new country development for BNI Mac's journey in BNI started in 2006 as one of the 1st Franchisee of the region. In 2016 Mac was invited to lead the BNI India operations in 2016. India has grown from 9800+ members to 34000+ members now under his leadership and guidance. In 2017 he was asked to take on the Asia Pacific operations of BNI. His success in leading that market, BNI Asia Pacific grew from 43000+ members to 77000+ members and this led him to be promoted as the Global Markets President for BNI in August 2018. BNI Global has grown from 242000+ members to 270000+ members under his leadership and support. He believes that with the right network even the impossible can become possible. His vision is to impact over 1 Million entrepreneurs grow and transform their business.

20+ years of experience in diagnostics and healthcare industry with P& L responsibility. Proven track record of successful market development in domestic and international geographies. Proven track record win identifying market trends, insights and execute viable commercial projects. In depth knowledge in developing network through organic and inorganic business development whilst delivering on P&L responsibilities. Thrives on challenges to deliver superior results to the organization with team work and collaboration.
Expertise and skills : P&L management., expertise in expanding network through asset lite channels like franchisee network, Hospital laboratory management, Retail lab management. Market entry and network for international business operations , Companion Diagnostics( Cdx),Central lab for CRO/CT.

MBA qualified experienced business executive with significant knowledge and experience in medical, cosmetic, education and health related industries. Director and owner of 3 companies.
1. Architects of Skin. Cosmetic clinic. Fully operated by staff.
2. Cosmediq - export/import company in cosmetic and skincare and dermatology equipment. Fully operated by staff
3. Owner of two Tertiary Education Colleges - Professional Education Group (Australian international Beauty college) and VIITE (Victorian International Institute of Technical Education) - vocational training college registered with ASQA - multiple sites across Australia. Expanding to India and China and Vietnam. Courses include beauty, cosmetic and health related diplomas, advanced diplomas and short courses.

Akash is an Industrious Retail Professional, with 15 years of rich experience in strategizing, planning and driving business opportunities in Retail Real Estate, Expansion Roll-out, Business Development, Store Design Review, Market Research, Market Entry Strategy, Franchising, Network Planning, Commercial/Legal Negotiations and Liasoning.
Fortressing key Shopping Mall Developer Relationships across the country and ensuring portfolio level profitability.
A self-driven and motivated individual leading from the front, having extensive network with Major Retailers and Mall Promoters.
As the Head of business development for Jubilant foodworks for all brands, Akash is driving the Growth and expansion of the new stores at Domino's, Dunkin' Donuts, Popeye’s, EKDUM & Hong's Kitchen (Jubilant FoodWorks) and is responsible for envisioning and spearheading the Development via Technology and growth mapping tools, Competition and brand mapping, fortifying Developer and Landlord relationships and working closely with Domino's International team for the company.

Extensive experience in managing business operations in multi-site hotels & resorts operations across Asia & Middle East with nearly 22 years of career success in developing & executing growth strategies to accomplish profitability. Rich experience in devising & implementing optimum business strategies to enhance new project development, business development and quality standards across all departments. Enterprising leader with a strong record of contributions that invigorated bottom line growth & enhanced internal controls of running hotel business involving sales, project development, pre-opening, sales & marketing and strategic planning.

The combination of legal and business background allows her to navigate complex corporate landscapes with strategic insight and multidimensional problem-solving.
Expert in strategic legal guidance for franchise networks, with over 12 years of experience in the segment, and international exposure in multiple countries.
Oversees Best Shape & Emagrecentro legal deparments, ensuring its operations align with legal requirements and ethical standards, Including managing legal affairs, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, mitigating legal risks, and supporting the company's overall objectives.

Amit Singal is a qualified Chartered Accountant with 18+ years of work experience across varied industries. He has an extensive experience in funds administration, accounting, investor reporting, strategic planning, Product Pricing and budgeting. He has launched Fluid Ventures, SEBI Approved VC Fund in the year 2021 to invest in early-stage Startups. The focus of the fund is D2C (Direct to Consumer). He is very active as a seed-stage investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. Till now, he has invested in good number of startups like InnerChef, Akiva Life, Infeedo, Advantage Club, Chqbook, Keito.ai, Trilyo, Oro Wealth, Original4Sure, F5 Refreshment, Hungry Foal, LQI, Med Delivery, Neeman Shoes, Junio, Unitedwecare, O2Nails, MentorKart, PeeSafe, etc. He is the founder and director of ASR Business Advisors Private Limited (www.asr-india.co.in). ASR works with multinational Companies for outsourcing their Finance function to India. He started Startup Buddy (www.startupbuddy.co.in) in year 2015 to support startups in IP Protection, managing Finances, legal & compliance. With a strong analytical and business foundation, collaborating work with different business heads across countries and general management responsibilities have geared him well as a future business leader and a great team player. His greatest strengths are his ability to develop a vision, a clear strategy and align people towards it.

As a business entrepreneur, his objective revolves around delivering exceptional design solutions and experiences while effectively managing multiple projects from inception to completion. He is in the architectural products and planning industry since 20+ Years.