Capitalising On Staffing, Training Franchise

Though India has successfully managed to climb the corporate ladder still it has a long way to go before reaching the apex. The emergence of MNCs (Multi-National Companies) has provided a long awaited boost to youngsters to explore beyond traditionally popular professions like MBBS, engineering, architect and so on. Today there are emerging professions in various sectors like retail, franchising, Human Relations(HR), Information Technology(IT), Social media marketing(SMM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), technical support and what not. As per some research reports, it has been estimated that India needs 500 million skilled people by 2022 in sectors like BPO, IT/ITES, Retail, Teaching, Accounts, Real Estate, Tourism, Travel, Hospitality etc. This would require enhancement of skill at all levels in various sectors. These skills include pleasant personality, fluent English and respective technical skills around various sectors.

The jobs in above segments require skilled professionals. Some companies have in house HR departments to hire skilled professionals while others prefer to outsource their HR services. The increased requirement for skilled professionals has led to the emergence of staffing and training service providers. These service providers are established to support the ‘Skill Gap’ and are providing the services through their own channel.

Considering the increased success and popularity of such staffing and training services, the owners have opted for the franchise route to spread their brand far and wide. Before going deeper into its other aspects, let us have a look at the factors that propelled the growth of private training institutes in the country.

Factors fueling staffing and training providers

There is continues dearth for specialised professionals in MNC’s. Capitalising on this trend are the staffing and training solution providers. As said by Sonia Nagpal, Founder and CEO, i360 Staffing & Training Solutions Pvt. Ltd. said, “Industry is demanding skill based manpower. Companies are reducing the training budgets and focusing on hiring someone who comes with specific skills and broader understanding of Industry. Moreover, the youth of our country is looking for short duration courses which are supported by stable and secure job. This in turn has given enough encouragement for aspirants to invest in this business.”

MNC culture: The coming up of international companies in India is the key reason for the success of staffing and training institutes. Awareness among students to earn a higher salary in MNC’s and IT sector propelled more and more students to join training companies which could help them to realize their dreams.

Specialized training and placements: Another factor fuelling the growth of staffing and training institutes is the demand for specialized skills. India has a majority of youth population. The few institutes offering new courses were not enough to fill the gap. Therefore the need for more private training and staffing institutes was felt. Moreover individuals who are already working in such MNC’s, take trainings to get a better package as well as position.

Affiliation with corporate companies: Better facilities and affiliation with big corporate houses is another factor for the popularity of training institutes. Many private institutes tie up with multinational and other IT companies for campus placements of their students. There are institutes which specially provide training to students for applying and giving interviews in various companies so that they can be selected easily.

All these factors have encouraged many entrepreneurs to start with their own venture via franchise route.

Franchising of training institutes

Acknowledging the profits of running a training institute has motivated many entrepreneurs to take up the franchise route for expansion. i360 Staffing and Training Solutions, a vocational institute which started in 2008, aims to bridge the gap between multinational companies and aspiring employees. The company actively started franchising in April 2009 to establish their pan-India presence. Nagpal said, “i360 has a very good bouquet of products combined with ‘sound operational processes’ to manage internal operations. Our punch line is one of our biggest strengths i.e., We Train For Jobs.”

Laksh staffing solution is another player which aims to provide value added HR services across different sectors through the franchise route. As informed by Vishal Gulati, CEO, Laksh Staffing Solution, “We have always felt the dearth of quality in terms of matching the profile of right individual with the right job, especially in Tier II cities. Keeping the above objective in mind, Laksh initiated the franchising model in January 2008 with just one franchise at Allahabad.”  Another player namely, Orbit HR Solution is a professional human resource company providing innovative recruitment and training platforms for the corporate world. The company adopted franchise route and from being a provider of just recruitment services, it now provides all Human Resource Services under one roof. Wow Training Solutions, a training company, has also taken the franchise route to spread the business across India.

Training institutes providing employment

As mentioned above these training and staffing companies are a great source of employment to youth. In a recent happening i360 Staffing and Training Solutions initiated a Job Drive Campaign in which 62 students got placements out of 75 attendees. Companies like HDFC Bank, Eureka Forbes, Spanco, India Financial Alliances turned up at the Job Drive and handpicked the future employees for their organisation. Wow Training Solutions is also known for training youth for MNC's like Relience, Wipro, Wockhart etc.

Opportunity for aspirants

The ever rising popularity of training and staffing companies can provide lucrative opportunities to aspirants keen in educating others. Becoming a franchisee does not require the individual to be from the same field. Anybody with excellent entrepreneurial skills, good academic track record, strong networking skills,  man-management skills coupled with good PR, HR, Marketing and Operational abilities  and a willingness to invest in business can take up a training franchise. Investment required is not very high. Nagpal informs, “With a relatively low investment of Rs. 3 – 7 Lakh and space of 1,000 sq.ft and an entrepreneurial mindset one can get associated with i360 franchise. We prefer franchisees who has passion of education combined with a business sense.”

India is slowly but steadily growing towards urbanisation and modernisation. Therefore, it can very well be predicted that there will be a need of more such training and staffing solution providers in near future. Aspirants keen on becoming education and training providers can surely invest now to reap higher profits at later stages.