Franchise Stories from Asia is a series of interviews and videos by VF Franchise Consulting introducing unique franchises and franchise opportunities for Asia. In today’s interview, we are honoured to speak with Mr. Stuart White, Director of Sanondaf.
Let’s begin!
VF Franchise: What is Sanondaf?
Mr. Stuart White: Sanondaf is a specialist decontamination company. This means that we have a process that kills viruses, bacteria, fungi, mould and yeast. These are the microorganisms that typically cause infections which can affect every person, every animal, and every piece of food we consume. We use special machines that treat the whole of a room, including all surfaces, equipment and even the air. We use this process as cleaning does not kill infections or keep people safe.
VF Franchise: Who are your typical customers, and what problems do you solve for them?
Mr. Stuart White: Every sector has a requirement to consider decontamination as infections can affect anyone. Nobody in the world has immunity to all infections. Infections can make people ill, can make animals and pets ill, and it can also infect the water that we drink and the food that we eat. Our range of customers include hospitals, universities and research facilities, medical product manufacturers, food producers, transport providers, universities and education, and more.
VF Franchise: What is your differentiation from your competitors?
Mr. Stuart White: Sanondaf is a professional decontamination company, and we have years of experience working in hospitals and containment labs. We deal with the most dangerous organisms that cause people to be sick. We do not play at being a professional decontamination company, and we only use professional grade machines and chemicals. Our process does not treat areas with wet chemicals while achieving a proven kill rate of up to 99.9999% and as validated in laboratories.
VF Franchise: What is the prospect for Sanondaf in Asia?
Mr. Stuart White: Sanondaf has operated in Singapore since 2017, and we are now looking to grow and expand into new countries and regions to build on our current footprint of ten countries. The global pandemic has highlighted how fragile economies and businesses can be without access to proper decontamination resources, and we aim to change this and to provide professional grade services to all. We also have a highly successful franchise business model which we feel can be easily replicated.
VF Franchise: How do you provide support and training for franchisees?
Mr. Stuart White: Sanondaf works closely with all our franchisees, both local and international, this includes in country training and support and training webinars on treatment techniques and the latest validation studies we have achieved. I recently visited Lebanon to support our local team and within two weeks of my return to the UK, they had secured six new customers and an annual contract from a hotel group.
VF Franchise: What do you look for in franchisees (e.g. experience, financials, market knowledge…)?
Mr. Stuart White: A successful franchisee is a successful business owner, and in my experience they set out with a plan to be successful. They listen and learn how this industry works and then go apply it to their own local region, exploiting our best practices and creating new practices to work in their local region and in line with local demands. Success has many different levels, and we look for talented individuals who want to grow and develop themselves. We also look for people with higher aspirations to grow and to develop a multi-level business with technician resources to cover multiple markets and geographical areas. The commitment and desire to be successful is a must.
VF Franchise: In general, how long does it take for your franchisees to achieve payback?
Mr. Stuart White: The best answer I can give would be to use my own example. I bought the first ever franchise for Sanondaf to operate in the UK. The market was unknown and under developed, and I recovered my investment in two years. Since then, the UK revenues have topped seven million and led to a successful investment into Sanondaf by a fund and the acquisition of the Sanondaf global brand.
VF Franchise: What major challenges do new franchisees face being a Sanondaf franchisee, and how can Sanondaf help franchisees overcome them?
Mr. Stuart White: Self-belief is the main attribute anyone requires, believe in yourself and believe in the product as it works, is tested and validated in real life and in laboratories and ultimately saves lives. We have key target customers that need to have robust processes to kill infections. Hospitals have a duty to keep people safe and free from infection, a factory producing medicine or food has a duty to make a safe product, free from bacteria which cause infections. Outbreaks happen every day and we can respond and service this need, we just need to tell people that this is what we do.
VF Franchise: Where do you see Sanondaf in the next five years?
Mr. Stuart White: I aim to have Sanondaf operating in over 40 countries in the next five years and being a renown and recognized industry leader in decontamination services and techniques.
VF Franchise: Do you have any final comments for our audience?
Mr. Stuart White: Come and join the foggers and feel a real sense of satisfaction as you deliver services that keep people, animals and food free from infections and ultimately save lives.
Author: Sean T. Ngo is the CEO and Co-Founder of one of Asia’s leading franchise consultancy, VF Franchise Consulting. He is Vietnamese American and has been happily based in Vietnam for over 18 years. You can reach him at sean@wordpress-1301377-4733018.cloudwaysapps.com.