Andrey Maslov spoke about franchises at the round table at SPIEF 2025

On June 18, 2025, Andrey Maslov, Director of the HSE Center for African Studies, took part in the round table “Franchising in new realities: domestic and international formats. Prospects and opportunities for SMEs". The expert event, organized by the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was held as part of the business program of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), June 18-21, 2025

The moderator of the round table was Lyudmila Karelina, Ph.D. in Economics, Vice-President of the Union of St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The discussion united the representatives of federal and regional authorities, the Russian business community, as well as experts in franchising. In his report on “Russian franchises in Africa: prospects for knowledge and technology-sharing”, Andrey Maslov spoke about the development of franchising in Africa, the challenges preventing the establishment of franchises here, and promising areas for the development, as well as about the research work that the Center conducts in this area.

In addition, he provided examples of Russian companies with successful experience in entering African markets.