FranklinCovey franchise launched in Malta

“Opportunity” for the development of FranklinCovey in the Maltese market is the major impression Peter Kasic, FranklinCovey vice-president of international partners and global sales took away with him after his recent visit to Malta.

“It’s not something that I would have said I understood fully prior to this visit,” Mr Kasic, who is based in London, said. “It is a market which has potential. It’s interesting that it is a network-driven market, unlike other markets around the world, because of the size of Malta and the intimacy of the business environment.”

FranklinCovey is a global American business organisation which offers training, consulting and leadership, time management and business skills. It is represented in Malta by Achieve Business Consultancy & Training (Achieve).

FranklinCovey has spent more than 20 years working with 90 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies, more than 75 per cent of the Fortune 500, and thousands of small and mid-sized businesses, as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. FranklinCovey has nearly 1,500 associates providing professional services and products in almost 150 countries.

Mr Kasic believes the Malta franchise will go from strength to strength, although he has no illusions of the size. It is the right time for such a launch, and FranklinCovey, as an organisation, he pointed out, is in the right place in terms of supporting the new operations around the globe that are penetrating the smaller markets.

Mr Kasic speaks with hands-on knowledge, having been with FranklinCovey for over 16 years. He works closely with the son of Stephen Covey (the co-founder of the FranklinCovey who is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading authorities on time-management ), Sean, who is the executive vice-president of global solutions and partnerships.

In terms of product development, Mr Kasic said FranklinCovey made a decision at a central level to concentrate on its core product range, which it developed over the past five years. “We have spent in excess of $10 million (€7.5 million) during this time on product development.”

Mr Kasic believes that the opportunity of having foreign speakers is key to the development of the local market, and key to the development of intellectual property understanding within the market. “It is something that as an organisation we support fully. We have Stephen R. Covey, Stephen M.R. Covey and Sean Covey all on the speaking circuit.

“We also have other key partners, people like Jannick Pedersen from our Nordic partnership, and Jan Kuipers, who is on the Dutch circuit of speakers, who are all available to do keynote speaking events. Along with that, in terms of delivery capability, we operate with a virtual pool of facilitators, the top people we have in the business, who deliver all over the world. One day they might be in Africa, the next day in China.”

Asked about the support the practice in Malta can expect from FranklinCovey, Mr Kasic said: “It comes in many different ways. There’s the fundamental way, which is the development of core materials and making sure the Maltese team have the right product, the right way, at the right time.

“We also have the Centre for Research, which is providing case study information, video case studies, white papers and the like. We also have a collection of practices which are specialist areas in execution, and in sales consultancy – helping clients succeed with their sales development programme.

“We have a leadership practice where we are constantly developing, based on the latest best practice and the Maltese team at Achieve Business Consultancy & Training has direct access to that group for any questions or any nuances the Maltese market would like to see developed.”

“Malta is one of the few places I’ve been to around the world where the people are the key to the evolution of the practice,” he said.

In a lot of other countries, he explained, interest can be created through putting a lot of advertising in place and similar marketing initiatives. “My belief for the Maltese market is that it’s going to be delivering top quality programmes and giving top quality materials, so that the word can then be spread that you’re dealing with an organisation that values its client base, and also values what the end user actually receives as part of their training.”

Mr Kasic added: “In my mind, the opportunities are great. The launch went well; Malta is an exciting opportunity and I’m looking forward to seeing the results over the coming months.”