Dubai, April 14, 2011: Franchise UAE 2011, the largest national franchise and trade show concluded at Dubai Business Village of business deals valued at over US$ 10 million, of which one-third came from Emiratis investors.

The three-day event was visited by over 700 investors especially the women entrepreneurs who engaged in one-on-one meetings with representatives from 50 brands covering diverse business segments.

The event, organized by Franchise Middle East, was supported by Dubai SME, Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Indian Franchise Association (IFA) and Commercial Office of UAE Embassy, New Delhi.

“The overwhelming response to Franchise UAE 2011 reflects the tremendous interest in franchising in the Gulf,” said Gaurav Marya, Managing Director, Franchise Middle East. “We expect that many of the negotiations will come to fruition over the next three months. Many participants, including Gitanjali Jewels and Thumbrule (talent testing specialists) have reported firm deals.”

Mana Al Suwaidi, Commercial Attaché at UAE Embassy, New Delhi, said the Ministry of Foreign Trade was working aggressively to bring Indian entrepreneurs and brands to the UAE, as India is witnessing robust growth. The response to the show showed that a number of Indian brands are ready to enter new markets, especially the Middle East.

Franchise UAE 2011 ended with an Entrepreneurship Summit in which a number of experts and entrepreneurs took part, including Nagabushan Balaji, Executive Vice President, Dubai First; Khadija Warsama, Senior Manager, Dubai SME; Zack Abdi, Managing Director, ARM Internatonal Group; Sunil Bahri, CEO, Kaizensox and Director Finance, Dubai Quality Group; Mamur Mustapha, Managing Director in Firefly Konsulting FZE, Mr. Karthikeyan V, VP Retail of Gitanjali Gems Limited, Husum Jandal, Senior Digital marketing consultant of WSI, Kamal Puri, President Skyline University College, Kavita Jain, Vice President of Edify Kids, Manish M. Soni, Account Manager Emirates NBD and Prashant Nasery, Projects and Quaity Manager of The Kanoo Group.

Among the companies taking part in the exhibition were the renowned Internet marketing franchise WSI, British Orchard Nursery, Promise (personality development for kids), Thumbrule (talent testing specialist), Trade Xpert, Edify School, Webcom Technologies, CADD Centre (training company), Cantabil Italy, SMS Country, Fujairah Media, Infobahn Consultancy, Gitanjali Jewels, Why Not Lifestyle home décor and furniture, Derby, Café Jubilee, Tie rack, Satya Paul, Pizza Fusion, Siyaram’s, Funland, Strands Salon & Spa, Col. Kebabz, Cocoberry, Heritage for Henna and many more.

The booming Middle East franchising market, currently valued at US$ 30 billion, is growing at 27% annually, and the region presents unparalleled opportunities for growth because of the presence of a large number of high networth individuals and multi-ethnic populations with high disposable incomes.

The Middle East region has a scaling multi-ethnic population with high disposable income. More importantly, it has over 400,000 HNIs (almost 13% of total population) with large wealth holdings, each with liquid assets of more than $5 million. It means together they have investable funds of more than US$2 trillion available for new businesses.