Massive social, economic and technological change is sweeping the world. Just look at the role of Facebook in toppling Egyptian dictator Mubarak. That’s not just a social networking website for teenagers, that’s powerful juju. And as history has shown, wherever, you find massive change, you find massive opportunity – and entrepreneurial franchisors going right along for the ride.

 

These changes aren’t new. They’ve been around for a while, but they’re now gathering a head of steam. Here’s our shortlist:

 

 

Yawn! How many times have we heard this over the past few years? But the fact is, I read today that in two years’ time the first of billions of the post-war generation are about to retire – or at least, to reach what was once considered to be retirement age. The doom-mongers claim the economy won’t be able to support them all. To make their nightmare even worse, the Baby Boomers are going to live much longer than previous generations. That’s all good as far as the Baby Boomers are concerned, because they want to make the most of the life they have left. Already the travel, health, employment, home care, entertainment, leisure, financial management and Zumba industries are gearing up to meet the demand, many of them catering specifically to the “senior” (don’t you hate that word?) market.

 

“Senior” franchises account for 5 of Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 10 New Franchises. Some of the hottest franchise opportunities:

 

 

Just when you thought the New Zealand market was saturated with all the old-name gyms and fitness centres – Les Mills, Club Physical and the others – along come the newbies with short, snappy names like Jett and, yes, Snap. It’s all part of a worldwide trend brought about in part by the theory that if in a recession you can no longer look rich, you might as well look good and poor, and the aging population’s desire to reverse the effects of aging so they can keep on partying – see above. There are now women’s gyms, senior’s gyms, children’s gyms and even mind gyms. There’s also – and this is my personal favourite – a gym franchise called Planet Fitness where they run promotions like pizza night – who said going to the gym had to be good for you? – and they feature a “Judgement Free Zone” aimed at providing a comfortable environment in which members can work out without feeling the pressure of having to look good. The day they bring this to New Zealand is the day I join the gym!

 

Hand in bicep with the fitness trend is the day-spa movement where you can get a therapeutic massage (presumably to sooth those aching muscles after your gruelling workout in the franchised gym), facial or any number of other pamperings. One of the leaders in this movement is the deliciously-named Massage Envy, which has yet to hit these shores but with more than 600 franchises worldwide is no doubt on its way, although we do already have Caci and Erban.

 

 

Even the mighty McDonald’s had to bow to the pressure and start offering “lite” alternatives to their burgers and more healthful substitutes for their staple fat-filled or sugar-saturated eats and drinks. The bigger-in-New-Zealand-than-anywhere-else KFC followed suite (although it has been noted that overseas there has been something of a backlash against the camouflaging of fast foods as something else, and that horror of horrors, the word “fried” has crept back into some KFC advertising). Subway seemed to falter on its first foray into the New Zealand market but found its feet in the new health-consciousness and hasn’t looked back since. The whole fast-food market has exploded in recent years with the arrival of supposedly more healthy fast foods such as wraps, subs, crepes, salads, falafels and some we can’t pronounce.

 

There are four fast food franchises (McDonald’s, Subway, Denny’s and Hardee’s) in Entrepreneur’s Top 10 Global Franchises for 2011. Watch out for these names that made Inc magazine’s Top 10 Promising Franchises for 2011 list: Energy Kitchen, where nothing is over 500 calories and every dish is grilled, baked, or steamed; Red Mango, one of the fastest-growing purveyors of all-natural frozen yogurt, and the quirky Edible Arrangements, which as its name implies, sells hand-sculpted fresh-fruit arrangements.

 

 

If you believe pop economists like Freakonomics author Steven Levitt, there is always an economic incentive behind everything that we do. Including saving the planet and, ultimately, our own lives. That’s why despite the fact that we all know that being green is good, it is hard to find an incentive for saving energy when energy is relatively cheap and for jumping on a bus when the car has a hot sound system, airconditioning, and nobody sitting next to you with camel breath and a hacking cough.

There is growing hope that the solution may, at least in part, lie in technology. Specifically, new technology that is not only way better than anything we’ve had before, but just as importantly according to Levitt’s doctrine, provides an economic incentive for switching from the old energy-hungry, pollution-belching technology we depended on before. Who cares if we save the world as long as we’re saving money, right?

 

Technological breakthroughs that cut the cost of more efficient solar panels, recycled building materials, safer lighting, low-CO2-emitting bricks, and longer lasting batteries have either been delivered or are imminent. And what more efficient and rapid way of delivering these breakthroughs into the arms, homes and cars of the world’s consumers than through franchising? Franchising to the rescue! There is already a small army of green franchises out there – Insultech, the Energy Saving Centre and AllSafe, to name a few – but expect the ranks to swell significantly this year.

 

Watch out for Pro Energy Consultants, SRS Energy with its solar panels shaped like roof tiles, Meco mudbricks, RidgeBlade discreet rooftop wind turbines for homes, and Green Garage, a mobile service for making cars more green.