With gross capital requirement of as low as P300,000, franchise projects are to be showcased in the forthcoming Franchise Expo 2010 to give overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) an idea for their possible investments.

Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) chairman emeritus Samie Lim said the franchise businesses are very affordable to OFWs and micro enterprises.

The Franchise Expo will be staged at the SMX Convention Center on July 16-18.

“We have a showcase of the best franchise investment opportunities available, plus we’re helping would-be franchisees to make wise franchise investments by offering them a free seminar,” Lim said.

Apart from the more than 300 types of franchise businesses, PFA will also hold a seminar on: “How to Buy the Right Franchise.”

“The expo will have other allied services to assist the OFWs and micro entrepreneurs in going about the entire process of getting into business,” Lim added.

As such, Franchise Expo 2010 shall serve as an effective venue in channeling the OFW remittances into wise and profitable investments, according to PFA chairman and Max’s Restaurant president Robert S. Trota.

“These investments will contribute significantly to the country’s economic expansion and help sustain the first quarter’s 7.3 percent GDP (gross domestic product) growth for the rest of the year,” Trota pointed out.

PFA vice chair Bing S. Limjoco said the start of economic recovery in the US would have a positive global effect that could further increase the already record levels of OFW remittances.

“Our OFWs and their relatives should then take advantage of this development by going into franchised businesses, which have consistently proven to have the highest probability of success,” Limjoco stressed.

PFA president Yvette Pardo-Orbeta said the record $17.1-billion remittances in full-year 2009 and the $4.3 billion in first quarter 2010 confirmed this uptrend.

“Our OFWs and their relatives must not let this wealth of financial inflows to slip through their fingers and simply vanish in unrestrained consumption since part of that amount can be invested in productive and lucrative enterprises,” Orbeta stressed.

“At the same time, the expected increase in consumption fuelled by the rise in OFW remittances offers an opportunity for MSMEs to diversify into various franchised businesses and thus expand their operations,” Orbeta said.

“Being among the least affected by the global financial crunch, the Philippines is atop the tide of a looming world economic recovery -- no matter how faint, slow and bumpy it may be and Franchise Expo is the international event that can help local entrepreneurs and businesses take advantage of its many opportunities,” Orbeta added.