Investment: £50k-£100k
Franchise Focus
Making headway
Biola Apooyin was working for IBM as a delivery project manager before becoming a Mobalpa franchisee. Here, he describes his franchising journey so far
INVESTMENT LEVEL: FROM £50,000
What appealed to you about Mobalpa? Initially, it was the product offering. As discussions progressed, however, I became more impressed with the level of services and processes available
within Mobalpa, not to mention the presence of the brand globally.
What interested you about this sector? I was developing properties in London and abroad and felt a synergy between this and Mobalpa’s offering. I have always had a keen interest in design and renovation and it seemed ideal that I could translate a hobby into a career.
What is the training and support like? The training and support from Mobalpa is rigorous and includes a period of time spent at Mobalpa headquarters in the French Alps and time spent at Mobalpa’s pilot store in Warrington, Cheshire. Overall, I spent nine weeks training prior to the opening, and Mobalpa continued to support me once the store was open with direct coaching in my store.
How’s it going so far? What sort of challenges have you faced? Since we’ve opened we have seen many
enquiries without any means of advertising. Customers have been most impressed with the standard of the showroom, product quality and overall service. My main challenge has been recruitment, which I am still looking into developing.
What’s the wider picture? I have plans to expand into other areas of London and hope to do so in the coming 12-18 months. When I do so, I want my Richmond operation to be secure in terms of staff and that we have developed the brand locally by providing quality workmanship and service.
If you could start again what would you do diff erently? There was a slight overlap between the commercial works on the showroom and my training schedule. Next time, this wouldn’t be the case and being more available when the works are underway would prove benefi cial.
What’s your view on the competition? Competition is healthy but, whilst we are fully aware of the competition and its offering, we are focussed purely on what we do and I do believe this has played a big part in the success of our store to date. It has been a pleasure to hear from customers about the experience they’ve
had with Mobalpa and it has showed us that the brand, concept and service levels have met their requirements.
Would you recommend franchising to others? Yes, defi nitely. The level of experience, support and processes from the franchisor are invaluable.
What advice would you give to future Mobalpa franchisees?
The challenge of running such an operation is all-encompassing, as there are many elements involved from the initial contact with Mobalpa to opening a store, including sourcing location, business plans, recruitment, training, etc. It’s important that future franchisees bear this in mind with their own schedule. Overall, it took me around nine months. My only other advice would be for them to allow plenty of time for their recruitment process, as fi nding the right people may take some time. n
MOBALPA
WEBSITE:
www.mobalpa.co.uk EMAIL:
welcome@mobalpa.com PHONE: 07764 470 743
CLASSIFICATION: Kitchen and bathroom design
October 2014 |
Businessfranchise.com | 95
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