RIMINI, Italy – SIGEP 2018 will host the debut of “Franchising Speed Date”, an innovative business opportunity for enterprises and the result of the biennial agreement inked between Italian Exhibition Group, the expo player that organizes the world’s leading artisan confectionery expo, and WM Capital, qualified Business Format Franchising company that promotes the growth of enterprises by means of the development of network systems in Italy and abroad.
The “Franchising Speed Dates” will take the form of meetings lasting 10 minutes each between artisan gelato sector Franchisors and potential affiliates, in order to promote the development of networks in Italy and abroad.
At Rimini Expo Centre, from 20th to 24th January 2018, over 160,000 trade visitors are awaited from all over the world; in the expo area, 129,000 sq.m. will be occupied by 1,250 enterprises.
The franchising format is going through a period of particular growth, as is highlighted by the SIGEP Observatory that monitors over 80 Italian gelato parlour chains with 2,000 sales outlets worldwide, of which over a quarter are abroad. Taking into consideration the overall total figure of the chains that have already registered their 2016 balance sheets, turnover grew by 9.42% compared to the previous year.
Italian Exhibition Group President Lorenzo Cagnoni says, “This is an important far-sighted agreement, able to widen the horizons of worldwide development of the artisan gelato product chain, which traditionally finds networking opportunities with reliable professional partners at SIGEP. SIGEP already has ramifications in every continent and represents a real opportunity for those also looking for new formats, such as networks, for their growth strategies.”
Fabio Pasquali, President and Managing Director of WM Capital, comments, “I wish to express my satisfaction with the agreement reached, which has as its objective launching and establishing a format able to identify the sector’s true greatness through the years, This is why AZ Franchising, a historic WM Capital brand, which for almost 20 years has monitored the business franchising sector with its magazine, Web site and Observatory, and SIGEP have joined forces to ensure further development for the growth of networks trading in the food sector. A sector in which, although there is a strong predominance of foreign brands thanks to the engineering of their processes, the demand for Italian-made produce continues to be high beyond our borders.”
WM Capital and IEG have the support of the “Sistema Gelato” division of Sistema Leader Srl, which operates at national and international level supporting the major business concerns linked with the gelato world. Sistema Gelato collaborates with Italian Exhibition Group for the internationalization of the gelato product chain with initiatives such as the Sistema SIGEP Web site (www.sistemasigep.com) and conferences.
Italian Exhibition Group Spa
Italian Exhibition Group SpA, the company founded with the merger between Rimini Fiera and Fiera di Vicenza is helmed by president Lorenzo Cagnoni, executive vice president Matteo Marzotto and general manager Corrado Facco.
IEG, which ended 2016 with a pro forma consolidated turnover of 124.8 million euros, a pro-forma EBITDA of 21.9 million and a net consolidated result of 6.6 million, is Italy’s top expo organizer, with 59 expos in its portfolio (featuring the Food & Beverage, Green, Technology, Entertainment, Tourism, Transport, Wellness, Jewellery e Fashion, Lifestyle & Innovation trades), is also top for gross trading profitability and has 216 events and conferences to its credit.
The company’s priority asset is favouring the internationalization of these sectors, which represent everything Beautiful and Well-made worldwide, starting off with a solid international presence with a joint venture already in the United Arab Emirates and presences in the USA, China, India and South America. IEG is also Italy’s leader in the conference – congress sector. In 2016, IEG had a total of 14,593 exhibitors and almost reached 2.5 million visitors in its expo and conference facilities in Rimini and Verona.
WM Capital
WM Capital (WMC:IM), WM Capital, specialized in Business Format Franchising, promotes the growth of enterprises by mean of the development of franchising systems in Italy and abroad, providing industrial and operational know-how in addition to a qualified international network.
The company trades in the Multimedia sector through the AZ Franchising brand and in the Pharmaceutical sector through the subsidiary company, Alexander Dr. Fleming. Thanks to the experience built up in franchising, with the development of over 600 formats, WM Capital selects innovative business models in sectors with high growth potential and directly supports the network systems with development projects and real possibilities of creating value through time.
