Local franchise industry seeks BOI incentives

The Philippine Franchise Association is seeking incentives from the Board of Investments, to further elevate the standards of franchised businesses here and to make franchising an even more lucrative alternative for Filipinos wanting to break into business.

In an interview Friday, PFA chair emeritus Samie Lim said that while some franchised businesses here—including retail— are already entitled to incentives, these pale in comparison to those offered by the governments of Hong Kong and Singapore.

Among the incentives that the PFA is asking the government for are ease of incorporation, a more liberal process for bringing in foreign professionals, and duty-free importation of capital equipment, he said.

Lim said it only takes two days to a week, for example, to incorporate a new business in Hong Kong or Singapore.

It takes much longer in the Philippines because of bureaucracy, he says.

The process for bringing foreign professionals, such as cooks or fashion consultants, into the country is likewise very circuitous here, he said.

For example, if a French cook will be hired to work in a restaurant here, outside of hotels, which are given some concessions, the restaurant owner will have to go through a lot of steps and accomplish a lot of paperwork to bring in the expert.

“If you’re a French restaurant, I would like to see a French cook in the kitchen, but it’s difficult to bring them here. We want to have a one-stop shop so that we won’t have to go through so many government agencies just to fix the paperwork,” Lim said.

Some franchised businesses also require special equipment from abroad.

He said PFA would seek duty-free importation of such equipment as well.

It would be even better if the franchise industry could be included in the Investment Priorities Plan, he said, considering the number of direct and indirect jobs it generates and the revenues it brings to the country.

According to PFA data, franchised businesses accounted for $9.45 billion, or 30 percent, of total retail output in the country last year.

To date, more than 1.02 million people are employed in the sector.