STAGE 5: Franchisee Capacity Building
Objective: In this Stage you will prepare and deliver all training included in the final support package, certifying franchisees according to National and/or IPPF standards.
Suggested time-frame: Stage 5 will vary in time frame depending on the ease of coordinating training sessions. Other MAs have completed this Stage between two weeks and two months.
Recommended Roles and Responsibilities:
- Program staff / Franchise Project Manager along with any Technical Training Staff: Lead on coordinating, facilitating, and providing materials.
Please follow these three Steps to complete Stage 5:
Now that you have signed contracts for a certain number of franchisees to become a part of your franchise network, it is time to plan and carry out training and capacity building for these partners. In this step, you should finalize and print training materials for franchise training, as you had outlined in Stage 3. Ensure that you make any updates to the curriculum based on the final franchisee support package that was validated in Stage 4. Use the clinical training best practices and sample training materials from the toolbox in Stage 3 as guidance. Be sure to include in your training an in-depth overview of the franchisee operations manual, to familiarize all franchisees with the franchise relationship, the practicalities of being a part of the network, and the standards they are required to meet. If you have established that business planning training is one of the elements of the support package, you should also develop business planning training in this Step. Use the guidelines for Franchisee Business Plan Training which give guidance for MAs when training on business planning and sustainability, and the template for the Initial Franchisee Business Plan, which is a business plan template for franchisees to complete with MA guidance. As materials are begin finalized, you should also plan all logistics for the franchisee training, and implement accordingly.
Once you have completed the scheduled trainings, you will then supply any materials or equipment that have been agreed upon in the support package, carry out any clinic upgrades that are a part of the agreement, and supply commodities, if part of the package, alongside inventory management training. Use the Commodity Guidelines for tips on lessons learned from other MAs when providing commodities to franchisee.
As a final Step in this Stage, it is recommended that you conduct an initial quality assessment, using the bi-annual quality assurance visit tool from Stage 4, to ensure that each franchisee meets the standards outlined in the franchisee manual. This initial assessment will confirm that each franchisee is ready to launch and orient them to understand the standards and expectations of the franchise network.
