Culled from Nigerian Best Forum. As more franchises from abroad find their way into Nigeria giving birth to new businesses, the immediate concern before the country’s policy makers should be how to strike the right mix of foreign inputs with local content.
With very low production base and an economy that is heavily dependent on imports, Nigeria would be mortgaging its future if the government left things to play out in the manner of the vagaries of demand and supply. Over reliance on franchised businesses that are heavily skewed in favour of foreign investors is neither healthy for the growth of the local industry nor the economy for that matter.
Major urban centres are now littered with many businesses that have their roots in a franchised model and it cuts across various fields including agro-allied, hotel services, eateries, building materials, construction, banking, educational, auto sales and repairs, IT repairs and services, consulting services, real estate and so on.
Whilst it is true that franchised businesses have boosted employment opportunities in the country, it could also be argued that the local content has not been developed in terms of expertise put into these fields and importantly, the franchise rights appear mostly domiciled in the hands of foreigners instead of Nigerians which makes the issue of empowerment still an illusion.
