Franchise forum

Has been promoting and developing franchising for 20 years. Participates as an expert at international forums. Since 2003, she has been holding the BUYBRAND Expo, the largest franchise exhibition in the post-Soviet region. Advises entrepreneurs on the purchase of a franchise. She is the founder of the franchising portal buybrand.ru and issues an annual rating of franchises. Thanks to Ekaterina's projects, more than 20,000 franchise outlets have been opened.

Until July 2022, acted as Vice President of Starbucks for Russia and Kazakhstan, responsible for managing and strategic development of the network comprising over 160 coffee shops. Until March 2020, acted as Senior Vice President of Rosinter Restaurants (IL Patio, Planet Sushi, Shikari, TGIFriday’s and Costa Coffee).
He has a record of 28 years with the restaurant business of Russia, Europe and CIS (Council of Independent States) countries, from a waiter to vice president. Ernesto Gonzales is a leading expert in restaurant management and franchising.

An expert in franchising. Under his leadership the Sushi Wok chain reached 775 outlets in 2022, and in 2023 it expanded to a new market of Montenegro. Konstantin Sagalov values efficiency, openness and involvement the most in his work.

Since 2018 he has been responsible for the development of the company's partner network in all regions of Russia, as well as in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. During this time the number of laboratory departments has increased more than 2.5 times — from 300 to 800. Under his leadership, the franchise format was updated: the economic model has become more profitable for partners.

12 years of managerial experience in franchising, including the development, launch, development and scaling of federal networks in different niches and different price segments, consulting on the launch, operational management of the franchise.

"Five years ago, everyone told me: it's impossible. Faith in the project and a strong team proved the opposite. Now Lanzhou network employs about 1800 people, 56 restaurants have been opened in 4 countries, and the project itself has become a national brand."

Evangelist expert, 25+ years of experience in the top management of commercial companies, in b2b, b2g and b2c segments, as an employee and business owner. Nowadays he is developing the ROBBO company which is owned by the very Russians who sold robots to the Japanese.

Founder of the MetaBizClub business club. To date, more than 200 enterprises have been opened in each of the two brands. And the turnover of the TOPGUN network in 2022 amounted to 2,742,000,000 rubles. Author of the book "The History of a global brand". First-class speaker, participant of the reality shows "Secret Millionaire" and "Now I'm the boss!" on the TV channel "Friday", as well as "Business Secrets 3.0 with Oleg Tinkov".

Business coach, motivator, mentor in the "non-food products" segment. He is engaged in training of managerial and sales personnel in client's networks, specializes in economics of enterprise, management marketing, assessment of the impact of economic indicators on business efficiency.

10 years of managerial experience in brand development in the B2B segment: from brand zones in partner stores to an international franchise network. Since 2020, the franchise network under Antonina's management has grown from 10 to 120 stores (SOKOLOV, SOKOLOV Diamonds and Diamant), entered the top 3 best franchising networks in Russia, became the No. 1 network in the retail sector according to the buybrand franchise rating and is currently represented in 6 countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Moldova and Romania.

Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) by the International Franchise Association (IFA) is Managing Director of Portmann Consulting Group, a global business consultancy that supports the expansion of businesses to and from EMEA, Asia & Latin America. From 1998 to 2007 Mr. Portmann was Vice President of International Development for the International Franchise Association (IFA). As a consultant he has worked with multi-national companies, real estate investment projects, franchise programs and SME promotion with the World Bank, USAID and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Latin America, Central Asia and EMEA.

For 30 years he has been working in the field of registration, use and protection of intellectual property rights, including trademarks, patents for inventions, utility models, industrial designs, as well as copyrights and know-how in Kazakhstan and other countries. He represented the interests of a number of large international companies in courts of various instances and in state bodies, participated in pre-trial settlement of disputes, as well as in commercial negotiations.

Honored Worker of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Sociological Sciences. Over 28 years of public activity, she has implemented numerous projects and programs aimed at promoting the economic and political empowerment of women, thereby contributing to improving their social status in society and promoting the ideas of gender equality. She was awarded the orders "Parasat" (14.12.2021), "Kurmet" (15.12.2010).

Expert of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia. Has been working In the hotel business since 2008. He managed large hotel companies, such as the AZIMUT Hotel Chain, Gorki City Hotel Management (Krasnaya Polyana), COSMOS Hotel, Imereti Resort. Founder and co-owner of the UMBRELLA Hotel Group hotel company (16 operating hotels with a total number of more than 2.5 thousand rooms).

The area of responsibility includes the development of DS models of profitability of Magnum retail outlets using various forecasting techniques. In a joint project between BST and Magnum, he is responsible for the development of predictive models and the application of machine learning methods to evaluate and predict the opening of Magnum retail outlets.

He has more than 20 years of successful development of projects in the field of commercial real estate and the hotel industry in Russia, Europe, Turkey, Israel. Since 2017, he has been engaged in franchise and hotel management programs under the AZIMUT Hotels brand. Support of investment hotel projects at all stages of development from concept design to construction and launch of facilities.

A professional in the hotel business. He worked both in hotels and in the corporate sales office of international hotel chains. For the last 15 years, he has been engaged in development at Hilton Worldwide in the CIS countries. During this period, 10 hotels in the region were opened under Hilton Worldwide brands, including 6 in Kazakhstan.

MBA, Durham University Business School. More than 10 years of experience in IT and BI sphere (Beeline Kazakhstan, RG Brands, First BITE, Vodafone). Since 2020, he has been building a BI-infrastructure and developing a data-driven culture in Magnum Cash&Carry.

Curator and developer of franchise packages for such popular Kazakh brands as Coffee Boom, Krendel, Madeleine, Serebroff, KDL Olympus, Zakazbuketov.kz, Lanzhou, Aikune wellness center chains, DolceFarm, etc. Developer of franchise promotion strategies, franchise concept & franchise package research, advisor on the issues of refinement and adaptation of marketing materials.

Entrepreneur, top manager, business consultant of international level. Partner of “Altınyıldız Classics” and “Aker” brands in Uzbekistan and CIS countries. Co-founder and partner of “Lynks Property Management” in Uzbekistan, former top manager of international brands Lacost, American Eagle, Colin's, Mother Care and others. 18 years of experience in Fashion Retail, developed brands in 10 countries.

Author of books on franchising and entrepreneurship, member of the Almaty City Council, business consultant

The main functional responsibility is the assessment of the turnover of new enterprises, the assessment of locations. User of the BST platform.

Since 2011 has been implementing IT projects in various fields. Customers and counterparts include both SMEs and large enterprises. Has successfully implemented over 20 projects related to the integration of CRM systems, the automation of call centers, and the creation of chatbots. He is a developer of several patented IT solutions in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

She has launched over 150 successful IT projects in Kazakhstan, among which in particular there is CityPass with 1 mln active users from all over the world. The mentioned project is being actively marketed abroad. Her another case includes the NFT app Smerse which she has developed specially for German clients. A grant holder of the Oxford University and a winner of multiple international hackatons. Currently she is actively working on her own IT sales funnel guide.

IT development and ML modeling on request for banks, retail, insurance. Graduated from Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of Moscow State University. Winner of the international entrepreneurship competition GSEA 2022 (Best IT Solution). More than 10 years of managerial experience in IT, consulting and retail.