Education contributes to a dominant share of the franchising business in India. Over the past few years, there has been a major boom in the vocational educational market. Franchisees of various institutes offering vocational education courses have sprung up almost everywhere owing to the high demand for such courses, especially during the vacations.

Gone are the days when kids were sent to their grandmas for summer vacations. Gone are also the days when career was equivalent to a professional degree. The recent trend among the youngsters is to add a vocational course to their curriculum vitae and utilize their vacations in the best way. Because of this, institutes have been offering a number of vocational courses in various fields right from computer training to grooming and fitness.

Computer industry is still the most sought after course. But number of aspirants for other sectors as well, particularly beauty and fitness, is increasing. Students are eager to learn about beauty, fitness, grooming and wellness, leading to a phenomenal growth in franchising business in this industry.

Says Pramod Khera, the CEO and Managing Director of Aptech Limited, which has over 1,000 franchise centres across 40 countries on vocational computer training, " it's mainly the school students/ engineering/ B.Sc computer science/ BCA students who look for short -term courses during the summer vacations to augment their skills and to fill in the gaps in their syllabi"

A few years back, options for a good career meant only medical science, engineering, CA, law or MBA, fields which were hopelessly crowded. But "in recent years, with so many lucrative and interesting alternatives available, the people prefer to follow their own interests," affirms Sapna Gupta, founder-director of Air Hostess Academy (AHA). "Due to this, in the past few years, more and more schools of vocational education have opened up. Success in this industry proves that franchising has really picked well in these years."

Vacations & Vocational Courses

There is a heavy rush for the vocational education courses during the vacations as the students complete one academic year. This is the time when students are free from their busy schedule and are able to think and explore the various career options.

"The franchising business picks up during the summer vacations for our beauty training institutes because during that time the franchisee finds it more lucrative."- Shahnaz Husain, Beauty Expert

"After the results of the school leaving certificate exams, many students feel like joining such courses as their career choice," Shahnaz Husain, a beauty expert who operates a chain of Shahnaz Husain's Beauty Institutes, observes.

Generally, the investors are on a lookout for new business opportunities. They are, however, ready for investment once they are through with their tax liabilities. Sapna Gupta avers "As far as the franchisors in vocational education are concerned, they are interested in starting in January itself so that, as peak business time approaches, the franchisee is well equipped with all the operational and promotional aspects."

But Khera differs on this issue. According to him, "there is an enhanced interest in admission to career courses from May to September every year, which has less to do with vacations and more to do with students looking for suitable job oriented courses which could give them a head-start in the industry. The three- year vocational courses are also much sought after by the students who want to take up vocational training along with their college studies, so that they are job ready at the end of three years."


Franchising business in vocational education sector has seen a steady growth, especially in the IT and computer education sector.

Franchising Options

In the past few years more and more schools of vocational education have come up. "Yes, franchising has evolved over a period of years," Khera adds. "We get enquiries from players who treat the line as serious business rather than the 'me too' genre which one encountered in the pre-consolidation phase of the IT industry." The AHA, for instance, has opened around 18 franchise units in two years. The situation is no different in the beauty sector. Shahnaz, whose institute has over 60 beauty training schools, puts it this way, "Firstly, there is a demand for professional vocational training and career-oriented courses in beauty. The beauty business itself has seen phenomenal growth during the last few years and is still growing. Therefore, career opportunities are growing, for which training is essential. Secondly, taking up a franchise of an established business model or recognized brand has become more popular as a business option."

Franchising in this sector has been of great help, especially in small towns where higher education facilities are lacking. The people there had to send their children to bigger cities for professional education, which meant spending extra money on their boarding and lodging. After getting franchise schools in their own town with placement assistance, what more would they have asked for?

As the number of pupils who seek vocational education is increasing, so are the franchise schools. Franchising has helped students, because now many courses are available in other cities and towns. Earlier, students from other cities and small towns used to come to metros and stay there for the duration of the course.

"In the past five years, the number of students enquiring for our courses has gone up exponentially, but we cannot take all of them due to limited seats available," says Gupta. Her aviation hospitality-training centre plans franchising in Lucknow, Hyderabad, Cochin and Goa.

Khera states: "We have seen a steady growth in the number of student numbers year after year. Nearly half a million students are currently studying programmes at various Aptech centres across the globe. We have trained over 4.5 million students in the last two decades. At the end of it, it is of course the students who greatly benefit as they have class education available closer to them."

Apart from cities and towns within the country, demand for Indian schools in the international market is considerable.

"Aptech has leveraged on franchising to scale up its operations and expand to more than 40 countries across five continents." Pramod Khera, CEO & MD, Aptech Limited

Expansion mode

Over a couple of years, vocational education training institutes have seen a major domestic and international expansion through franchising. "Even as investors are keen for many other cities, we do not want to rush into any deal. Our business model being unique, we have to be very careful in our selection of city," adds Gupta who is also keen on venturing into the global market soon.

There are cases where the companies have forayed into the international market successfully and have made a mark for themselves in many countries.

Aptech has opened their centres in regions ike Mongolia, UAE, El Salvador, Kuwait, China, Russia, Philippines, Iran, Indonesia, Mexico, Vietnam and Thailand. It has also signed up contracts to build centres in Afghanistan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

According to Shahnaz, who recently opened a school in London as well as two franchise clinics, "we have an ongoing expansion strategy based on our franchise system, whether it is our beauty training schools, clinics, shops or spa. We are following this both on the domestic and overseas front."

Getting a franchise

Acquiring a franchise for a training institute for vocational education is not an easy task. In the education sector, one needs to have business partners who are committed to the cause of education and not just in it for making money.

Education is a service that is delivered over a period of time and is not a one-time buy. Thus consistency and uniformity in the dissemination of training is crucial.

"We look for like-minded people who share our passion for reaching quality education to people. Most of our franchisees are professionally qualified themselves. The franchisee should have the capacity to invest and run the business over a long term period," Pramod Khera emphasizes. His institute trains the trainers at each of its franchise centres and then the parent company certifies for him to be eligible to impart training to students. In case of vocational education, it is important that the franchisee is able to find the right kind of faculty locally. The curriculum, study module and staff training are provided by the franchisor but how well the faculty disseminates it is vital. The franchisee has to understand well that it is not just the name, but also the entire system that he is associated with. If he is not able to provide that quality to students, the entire brand would be at stake in the town.

People from successful background, preferably from education or hospitality industry, are best suited for this business as it is easier for them to understand the students' psychology, analyse their market and understand the changing needs of the beauty, aviation, fashion and technology industry.

"Once the deal has been finalized," informs Sapna Gupta, "we visit the centre for site finalization and give them the layout for architecture. While the construction is on, our HR team visits the city for manpower recruitment. By the time the centre gets ready for operation, the new recruits are also through with their training at the corporate office. Our induction and training department trains them on all the operational aspects of various departments."

Gupta assures a break-even period ranging from 12 to 18 months at an ROI of around 900% over three years. An investment ranging between Rs. 45-70 lakhs with a space requirement of around 4,000-4, 500 sq ft of carpet area, license fees varying between Rs. 15 lakhs and Rs. 40 lakhs and a royalty of 25 % are necessary to get a AHA franchise.

For Shahnaz Husain, whose franchisee can break even in a 1-2 years at a projected ROI of 43%, says that the investment for setting up a franchise of her beauty training institute ranges from Rs. 15 lakhs and Rs 25 lakhs (inclusive of franchise fees), and minimum carpet area of 1, 000 sq ft to 1800 sq ft, with ample frontage and good visibility at a prime location, are the prerequisites.

Global Foray

Franchising is ideally suited for the Indian entrepreneurs, as there is a pressing need for increasing self and other employment opportunities. India has already been a great source of manpower and talent for developed countries.

"Starting a centre international is not going to be that easy. For this we need to have international standards of education. We have already started working on it," says Sapna Gupta who plans to start AHA centres abroad, in Dubai, Srilanka and Australia to start with.

With globalization, the differences between the markets have become narrower. Says Shahnaz, who has an expertise of 37 years in beauty industry, "To compete in any market and maintain our leadership position, we cannot compromise on quality. The business has to be dynamic. We have to plan our extensions, innovations and strategies in order to further strengthen the position of our brand and its global presence."