Thursday, November 26, 2009. Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. Day 1 of Franchise India 2009. Continued from Franchise India – Entrepreneurship Summit 2009 – Specialty Retail.

Another interesting session was “Business Opportunities in Food & Beverage Sector”. The speakers were:

- Mahmood Khan, Hospitality Expert Virginia Tech, USA
- Pavan Gandhok, CEO, Litebite Foods
- Gary Moore, MD,The Pizza Co., Thailand
- Rakhee Nagpal, MD & Chairperson of DVS (Moderator)
- Luis Daniel, General Manager, KRR International
- Ankur Sharma, General Manager Business Development , Yo China

Thursday, November 26, 2009. Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. Day 1 of Franchise India 2009 saw scores of enthusiastic entrepreneurs eagerly evaluating various franchise opportunities (300 brands) in India.

Billed as “Asia’s Biggest Franchise Show”, the event came alive in various sections – Brand License 2009, Entrepreneurship Summit ‘09, Food & Beverage, Fashion franchising, Knowledge Series, Licensing and Retail.

What aroused our curiosity was the “Entrepreneurship Summit 2009″ conference series. Some of the speakers at “Business Opportunities : Specialty Retail” session were:

- Aloke Banerjee, CEO, Rosebys
- Vivek Bali, Group President, Spice Hotspot
- S.Ravikant, COO, Titan Eyewear
- N.P. Singh, Director, Samsonite
- Rajiv Agarwal, The Mobile Store
- Naveen Rakhecha, CEO, Cartridge World

The India Global Summit on MSMEs gets underway on Friday, November 20, 2009 at Hotel The Lalit, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi.

Expect the discussions to revolve around “Building the next generation of MSMEs”, the theme for the summit.

Shri Dinesh Rai, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, is one of the speakers (he was present at the launch of B2B web portal www.nsicindia.com for MSME’s as shown in picture). Other speakers include:

* Arun Maira: Member, Planning Commission
* Pravir Kumar: Joint Secretary, Ministry of MSME
* H P kumar: Chairman & MD, NSIC
* Rakesh Rewari: Deputy MD, SIDBI
* Rana Hasan: Principal Economist, ADB
* Rakesh Singh: Head SMEs, Standard Chartered Bank

Bindu D. Menon (Businessline, The Hindu) reports that Versace, Oakley and Nike Golf are increasing area and product assortments to draw consumer interest in what they consider one of the biggest markets in Asia.

Quotable Quotes:

Mr Scott Bowers, Senior Vice-President (Global Marketing and Brand Development), Oakley Inc:

“India is one of the strongest markets in Asia and this is where we are looking to establish our product line.

Until now, we were cautious with expansion but now we will be making a lot of noise.

Now that SMEs can raise funds through NSE/BSE, what more can be done to empower SMEs to drive India’s growth to prosperity?

According to ET Bureau, SEBI’s latest move “can be but one step
towards removing the panoply of constraints that they face on a daily basis.”

Now, SME Business Owners in India can raise funds with their IPOs on NSE and BSE!

This is the latest message from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which announced its decisions through its Press Release “PR No.344/2009″.

NSE and BSE will now be allowed to set-up SME trading platform, which would have lighter eligibility norms for companies initiating public offers: Clause 49 still needs to be complied with, and SMEs can prepare and present financial results on a half-yearly basis (instead of the quarterly requirement).