Known by many industry professionals as “The Don of Franchising”, Sary M. Hamway is a winner of the International Franchise Association Award and several regional and international professional acknowledgments in the Middle East, North Africa, and South East Asia.

Sary holds a Master’s Degree in Hotel Management and a former university teacher. He attended several auxiliary management courses in the United States and Europe, which prepared him for his long list of completed franchise training and consultancy assignments.

Sary has an accumulated experience of hands-on franchise training and consultancy practice of more than 28 years and is now recognized as the foremost authority of franchising in the Middle East. Currently, he is a highly sought-after speaker at major franchise seminars and provides specialized training on specific aspects of franchising.

Sary is the author of several metaphorical presentations such as “How to Become a Millionaire through Franchising”, “Through the Wormhole to Franchising”, “Decoding Your Franchise Gene™”, “Sailing the High Seas of Franchising”, “The 10 Laws of Highly Successful Franchisors”, “Buying a Franchise is like Buying a Diamond” “The Vampizors™”, and “Franchising is a Father & Son Relationship”.

He published a number of eye-opening articles in international and Arabic business and franchise publications such as “Franchising and the New Arab World”, “Arabic Franchising is One Industry despite the Challenges”, “Franchising and Globalizations”, and “Egypt the Land of Pharaohzors”.

Sary has coined a few new expressions which are widely used by franchise professionals when describing micro franchising such as “Franchise in Box™”, and “Plug n’ Play Franchise™“, and “Nano Franchise™“ to describe vocational franchise opportunities.

Over the past years, Sary has helped hundreds of international businesses to embark on major franchise development and expansion programs and assisted dozens of investors in obtaining the franchise businesses of their dreams.

Sary assists governmental and semi-governmental firms in various countries to develop and execute plans for utilizing franchising as a means of economic growth through supporting small business development and nationalization of jobs.

Marcel R. Portmann is a Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) from the International Franchise Association  (IFA) and currently is Director of Global Development for Duck Donuts, in charge of the expansion efforts for the brand across the world.

From 1998 to 2007 Mr. Portmann was Vice President of International Development for the International Franchise Association (IFA), based in Washington DC, where he implemented services and products for the 30,000 members interested in global expansion.

Mr. Portmann also served as Secretary General of the World Franchise Council, responsible for coordinating the activities of the organization with 40+ members around the globe.

Mr Portmann currently resides in Spain