The diversity of Scotland's £700 million a year franchise industry will be celebrated during Scottish Franchise Week which gets underway on 28th April and one of those celebrating will be Craig McCann who grew the South Glasgow franchise of dog care company Barking Mad by 118 per cent in his first year in business.
The 40-year-old Broomhill resident, who previously worked as a Betterware salesman, took over the franchise in September 2013 and grew the business by 85 per cent in his first three months. McCann recently took on a part-time employee to help out with the company's growing number of clients.
Barking Mad, whose eight Scottish franchisees grew a combined 47 per cent over the last two years, provides an alternative to kennels for dog owners who are going on holiday.
Former dog owners, who have decided for whatever reason that they no longer wish want the full-time commitment of keeping a dog, are recruited by Barking Mad as hosts to house the dogs in a family home while the dog's owners are away.
Says McCann: "It works really well as the hosts love dogs and they get the opportunity to have a dog in their homes again. Of course, we vet the host families as part of the service."
"I love being involved in the entire business process and being in control of my own success or failures. It has also been great fun!"
McCann's franchise is now one of two Scottish franchisees that are currently registering their business for VAT due to an increase in turnover.
Scottish Franchise Week is an annual event organised by the British Franchise Association (BFA) and showcases the best of Scottish franchising. One of the event's aims is to inspire people to try franchising, to explain how franchising works and how to choose a franchise business.
According to the BFA, 92 per cent of franchises are profitable in contrast to the 80 per cent failure rate of new business start ups. In 2013, Scottish franchising accounted for 28,000 jobs and 2,000 individual businesses representing nearly 500 different franchise brands.
The highlight of this year's Scottish Franchise Week will be a power breakfast being held in Glasgow on 30th April where the keynote speaker will be TV presenter and entrepreneur Carol Smillie, who runs a thriving international business.
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