IWG have appointed a UK franchise business development manager – a new role created to boost the company’s rapidly growing franchise business across the UK.
Kyle Whittle, previously UK country manager at kitchen supply company Mobalpa, will team up with Julian Chambers, head of franchise, to accelerate growth and support existing franchisees in the UK.
“It was always our intention to roll out a national franchise programme, but we've taken our time because we wanted to do it right,” says Chambers. “We’ve got 320 Regus centres in the UK, with significant opportunity for growth. Bringing on new franchise partners will help us accelerate this growth.”
The first UK franchisee signed in July 2018. Since then, five more franchise partners have joined, with 50 new locations due to open over the next three years.
IWG has established successful franchise partnerships under Regus across multiple countries including Jamaica, Djibouti and Tajikistan. These partnerships have widened the company's global footprint and expanded its network significantly, serving customers in new cities and countries.
Chambers has been at the helm of Regus’ UK franchise development since 2018, and now, following keen interest and swift progress, Whittle will double down on those efforts.
Chambers says: “Kyle's role will also include helping to bring on even more franchisees. Where my role looks at the national strategy, Kyle's role will be very focused on developing specific geographies.
“We've secured and set up many franchisees across the South-East – we’ve got partnerships in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Greater London, Northamptonshire and the Midlands, but not much further north than that. So by bringing Kyle on, that'll help us to drive further growth in the North of the UK.”
Whittle’s experience with Mobalpa will stand him in good stead when supporting existing franchisees and driving new sales. For more than ten years, he worked across a variety of roles, including sales manager, national franchise development manager and, most recently, UK country manager.
“Kyle brings to the table a fresh sales-focused approach,” says Chambers. “The drive for franchise growth is very much continuing.”
Chambers sees this as an important step for IWG in the UK. “We're at a very exciting time. We're about to open our first few centres with the franchisees we've signed up and are about to do something that's not been done before in the UK, opening locations that for the first time won’t be operated by us.
What I’m looking forward to finding out is to see how those franchisees adapt to our model, make it their own and drive the business. If it's anything like my experience, franchisees more often than not do things slightly differently, and we can all get a better result business performance at the end of it.”
Find out more about IWG’s franchise partnership opportunities across the UK
