From Classroom to Concept: Ab Igram on Preparing the Franchise Leaders of Tomorrow

Hey, everybody. Welcome to today’s webinar. I’m super excited to have Ab Igram with us. For those who don’t know him, Ab is the Executive Director of the Tariq Farid Franchise Institute at Babson College. Before that, he spent years on the capital and growth sides of franchising. He has experience in lending, investing, and building startups.

That’s why I’m so excited to talk with him about the role of franchising in the classroom. How do we bring it into the classroom? What role should it play, and how can we do it better? We’ll get into all of that. But first, Ab, thank you so much for joining us.

Gary, thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here and happy to share some thoughts. Thank you for the kind introduction. I’ve done a lot, and franchising has been a part of much of it, so I’m looking forward to our conversation.

That’s probably a good place to start. For those who don’t know you, could you give us a little more background than what I just shared?

Of course. My dream was to play professional baseball. That didn’t happen, but baseball got me to Northwestern University. After graduating, I spent about six years in consulting and technology. I still didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go.

I found myself living in Boston, and Babson College came onto my radar. I didn’t know much about it at the time, and I didn’t have an entrepreneurial bone in my body, so to speak. But I came here, and it changed the trajectory of my life.

I met Steve Spinelli, who was a co-founder of Jiffy Lube. He had gone from the founding team to becoming a franchisor and building a franchisee network before the business was sold to Pennzoil. Steve was back at Babson, where he had earned his MBA part-time over seven years while building the business in Western Massachusetts. If he was dealing with a marketing issue, he took a marketing class. If he had a pricing issue, he took a class that could help him solve it.

I love that story because that’s what entrepreneurs do: they find a way and stay curious. Steve was back at Babson, and I knocked on his door five days in a row asking to be his graduate assistant. Fortunately, he relented. That changed the trajectory of my life.

After doing research with Steve on the merits of a franchise-focused investment strategy, I developed an interest in venture capital. I spent more than six years at GE Equity working in corporate venture capital and technology. It wasn’t franchising, but I learned how to invest, sat on boards, and had a lot of fun.

From there, I pivoted to the entrepreneurial side. I worked with companies as an advisor, including early-stage businesses that wanted to franchise new concepts. I also had an independent sponsor focused on franchising.

At that point, I had never run anything myself. One of my clients was a pet death-care company looking to create a national brand, and I joined the business in an operating role to franchise it. One of the things we learned was that not everything is meant to be franchised. We ultimately pursued a roll-up strategy and chose not to franchise. Sometimes, deciding not to franchise is the right answer.

I later moved to the lending side. I provided capital to multi-unit franchisees across the East Coast and then started a leveraged-finance platform at another bank. As private equity’s interest in franchising grew, we provided capital to private equity groups acquiring franchise brands, franchisors, and franchisees. That has been an interesting phenomenon.

Eventually, I had the opportunity to return to Babson, where Steve Spinelli is now president, and launch one of the college’s institutes. Tariq Farid, the founder of Edible Brands, and his daughter, Somia Farid Silber, the company’s CEO and a Babson alum, made a commitment because they believed there was a need to embed franchising into higher education and beyond.

That’s what brought me back home to Babson, and I’m very grateful. My purpose is to help people change their lives and realize their dreams. Franchising is one way to do that.

I love that. One of the really interesting things is that you helped launch the institute, and it was one of the first of its kind. Now we’re seeing franchise centers appear at colleges across the country, even though franchising has been around for a long time. Why are we only now beginning to see franchising incorporated into education?

That’s a great question. You’re right—there are roughly eight or nine programs now, perhaps even more. The University of Louisville has the Yum! Center for Global Franchise Excellence, and there are programs at other universities as well.

When this opportunity came along, I love Babson, but I still asked myself whether there was a real opportunity here and why there were only seven programs at the time. I think one reason it has taken so long is the number of misconceptions and myths surrounding franchising.

Someone might ask whether an undergraduate or graduate student is really going to become a franchisee. Maybe they will. But if a student is considering scaling a venture or pursuing entrepreneurship, franchising should be part of the conversation. I sometimes describe it as “entrepreneurship with guardrails.”

If someone is considering entrepreneurship through acquisition or buying a company, franchising should be among the options they evaluate. We’re not only serving undergraduate students. We’re working with graduate students, alumni, career professionals, and business leaders.

Franchising can be a way to scale. You can create wealth as a multi-unit franchisee, whether you operate one location or build a portfolio of 50. You can launch a brand and scale it through franchising as a franchisor. Franchising can also help students build a toolkit that leads to internships and careers at companies such as Inspire Brands or Dunkin’, whether they’re interested in finance, real estate, supply chain, technology, or another discipline. Franchising touches so many different areas.

Why did it take so long? I’m not entirely sure, but the misconceptions about franchising have played a role. One of my MBA classmates wanted to enter a franchise concept in Babson’s business-plan competition about 30 years ago. The reaction was essentially, “That’s not entrepreneurship.” He later left Babson, worked at Dunkin’ Donuts, became a partner, and now owns more than 30 locations.

There are many different opportunities within franchising. Even before Babson had a formal institute, Steve Spinelli had the foresight to teach one of the earliest courses on the subject. Babson has taught franchising on and off ever since, including a strong graduate-level course featuring industry speakers. More recently, I launched another course focused on sales and marketing dynamics in franchising.

Historically, you might have assumed franchising would simply be part of the business-school curriculum. But business schools have clearly underserved the franchise model and haven’t always discussed it as true “entrepreneurship with guardrails,” which is a phrase I love and may have to steal. Why have business schools historically underserved franchise education?

Go ahead and use it! It’s an interesting question. I think franchising is sometimes viewed through the very narrow lens of becoming a McDonald’s franchisee. Perhaps schools didn’t believe that was something their students would consider.

We teach franchising as a way to become an entrepreneurial leader—to scale and to pivot. We recently hosted a speaker who became a Planet Fitness franchisee very early in the brand’s growth, expanded to 70 locations, moved into private equity, and launched a fast-growing brand. Much of what he shared with our students applied to entrepreneurship more broadly: leadership, risk-taking, and growth.

We’re asking what more we can do, how we can take franchise education global, and how we can empower other universities. That’s exciting to us. We love to collaborate at Babson. I’m working with other universities and have spoken about the power of franchising in places around the world, including Africa.

As you know, the franchise community and its network are incredibly strong. There is a lot of opportunity to build on that. We’re also big believers in experiential learning. Bringing franchise professionals into the classroom—from CEOs and brand leaders to experts in marketing, agencies, and law—really resonates with our students. It has been very powerful.

I want to double-click on something you said. It’s so interesting that, in the same thought, you can talk about franchising in Africa and franchising at the local level. It spans such a wide range. It can be international or local, and you can participate as a supplier, franchisee, or franchisor.

How do you help students navigate this massive web of opportunity, where entrepreneurship exists across the entire ecosystem?

One of the ways we do that is by giving students access to thought leadership, industry leaders, and stories. We have a podcast called Stars of Franchising, which I co-host with Vini Onyemah, chair of Babson’s Marketing Division and a professor of sales and marketing. We both saw an opportunity to have these conversations and showcase different paths within franchising.

When students, alumni, and others hear these stories, they begin to recognize the possibilities. They might learn about someone who built a business as a supplier to franchise systems. They may realize they can begin their careers in marketing or at an agency with franchise clients. That doesn’t mean they need to commit their entire careers to franchising, but it can be an entry point.

Here’s another example. Two brothers studying at Babson—one a graduate student and the other an undergraduate—come from the family behind the franchise brand Churromania. They’re scholars at the institute and are doing incredible things on campus. They have also started a technology company focused on AI and franchising, drawing on their experience with the brand and their exposure to the broader franchise ecosystem.

We try to showcase stories that demonstrate the many ways people can reach their goals. Franchising is one of those ways. As my own background shows, the path isn’t always a straight line. We encourage people to learn, explore, discover what excites them, and think about their personal purpose and how they can pursue it.

As you describe the program, so much of it involves hearing from people who have lived these experiences or putting students in real-world settings. My own education was in mechanical engineering. I loved it, but at times it felt removed from reality.

Can franchising be taught in a classroom or lab, or is the real value primarily in hearing from experienced people and interacting with the industry?

You just teed this up perfectly for me. Yes, franchising absolutely can be taught through hands-on work. I’m a big believer in treating the classroom as a lab.

I’ll give you a real example involving Edible Brands and Edible Arrangements, which have done a great deal for Babson and our students. A few years ago, Professor Lauren Beitelspacher incorporated an Edible business challenge into her retail-management course. Students worked on the challenge throughout the class and presented their recommendations to the company’s senior leaders. That’s real. I didn’t have that kind of experience as an undergraduate studying economics.

It’s better than simply hearing about the work; students get to do it. We’re also working with another professor on a design-thinking class built around innovation challenges. Senior leaders take the time to bring a real issue to the students and say, “Let’s put this out there and see what they develop.” We curate the experience to make good use of everyone’s time, and our faculty members bring years of academic and professional experience to the work.

That’s one of the beautiful things about experiential learning at Babson. It takes strong partnerships and clear expectations, but it produces meaningful results.

In another course, an agency leader named Amanda has come to class and presented a real marketing and branding challenge based on client work. In my course on the impact of sales and marketing within franchise brands, students spend two weeks working on the project and then present their recommendations. Even if the work doesn’t go directly to the end client, the challenge comes from a professional serving real clients and involves a brand or company the students know. They can go out, do the work, and bring their findings back.

That makes sense. You’re taking a real-world problem and bringing it into the classroom. Whether the solution is implemented in the real world or presented to the class, students are still working through an authentic business challenge.

Are they given enough context to really understand the problem, dive in, and develop meaningful ideas?

Absolutely. Imagine that the project involves a particular brand or concept. It’s part of the students’ grade, and the faculty member can ask them to visit a location. Students can evaluate the social-media strategy, sign up for the loyalty program, and experience the brand as customers. They can then challenge the company’s thinking: “We visited one of your locations, noticed this issue, and think you might consider doing X, Y, or Z.”

It’s impressive and inspiring. If you design the project well, choose an interesting problem, and give students the right access, they become deeply engaged. Technology and AI also give them powerful research tools. Ultimately, the goal is to generate new ideas, encourage new ways of thinking, and create real learning.

The impact goes beyond the projects themselves. Through networks and introductions, a student may earn an internship with a company connected to franchising. That’s another win. They learn the fundamentals of a particular function—finance, marketing, supply chain, or something else—along with the nuances of working within a franchise brand. We always want to help create those career and internship opportunities.

I love that. You’ve touched on AI and the future, and many franchise-education programs are still relatively young and finding their footing. As these programs recruit more students and build more robust curricula, what do you see for the future of franchise education?

More importantly, what happens as people enter franchising intentionally, with training and exposure from the beginning, instead of stumbling into the industry as many of us did? How could that change franchising?

I’ve been impressed by the teams, people, and institutions doing this work. It feels like a community, and I think the future is very bright. We should collaborate.

Babson hosted the International Society of Franchising conference, which introduced me to an incredible group of faculty members conducting research specifically on franchising. The conference rotates around the world, and many universities are involved. That represents the academic side of this work, and I believe it can continue to grow.

I don’t know exactly when the oldest franchise-education program began, so I can’t say how young the field truly is. But when you look at the relatively small number of programs, there is clearly room for growth, and I hope it continues.

As the industry evolves, we need to remain curious. Two years ago, I wasn’t thinking as much about technology and AI. Now, we’ve funded research on AI, and companies like yours are demonstrating new ways to address industry pain points. When students and alumni see that work, they realize they can pursue those paths too. Franchising is another market with its own nuances, and, as in any market, a pain point is an opportunity to create a solution.

We’ve also tried to demonstrate that a university doesn’t necessarily need a separate institute to teach franchising. At Babson, I’ve worked to weave franchise content into existing courses, operate lean, and provide access to the industry. With a commitment from leadership and the community, a university can build relationships and ask, “Would a franchise component add value to this course or career discussion?” The same can be done with AI.

The thing I love about higher education is the curiosity of its faculty and leaders. If you encourage that curiosity and share compelling stories, a university can determine how franchising fits its mission. It may be more aligned with some schools than others. At Babson, where business and entrepreneurship are at the center of what we do, it creates an interesting, collaborative, and encouraging environment in which we can keep innovating.

I like that idea of introducing one franchise component and building from there.

I have one final question. Because you spend so much time with students and around the many ideas circulating on a college campus, you probably interact with more people outside franchising than most of us in the industry do.

How do you introduce franchising to someone who hears the word and thinks of a Star Wars franchise or an NFL franchise? What’s the first step in helping someone understand franchising as a business model and recognize how deeply it is woven into the world around us?

That’s a great question. I usually begin with the fact that we’re all consumers. If I’m speaking to a group or teaching a class, I might ask, “What’s your favorite brand?” It could be a luxury brand, a restaurant, or a health-and-wellness concept. Then I ask whether it’s a franchise.

We might talk about restaurants. Is Chipotle a franchise? Many people assume it is, but it isn’t. Then we can compare it with Dunkin’ or Starbucks. I like to begin with brands people experience as consumers. They often respond, “Wow, I didn’t know that was a franchise,” or, “Why isn’t that company franchised?”

That opens a conversation about franchising as a pathway to scale and access to capital. It also allows us to explore why companies such as Starbucks or Chipotle have chosen not to franchise. The same conversation can happen around service businesses, health-and-wellness brands, Planet Fitness, and boutique-fitness concepts.

The next thing I point out—and something that often gets lost—is that franchisees are local entrepreneurs in their communities. The International Franchise Association has done work to emphasize this. Consumers may see a large McDonald’s or Dunkin’ brand, but the franchisees operating those locations are entrepreneurs who build businesses, create jobs, and contribute to their communities.

I share those stories, and people begin to understand the model differently. Our podcast also highlights a diverse range of people in franchising. It’s another way to help people learn more, avoid mistakes, and make thoughtful decisions when choosing brands. One of the best ways to do that is to let people share their experiences and stories, both within franchising and beyond it.

My family is probably tired of hearing about it, but I love talking about franchising. My wife is tired of me suggesting that she franchise her art and pottery studio. But as I learned from the pet cremation business, franchising isn’t always the right answer. I was brought in to franchise that company and even wrote the Franchise Disclosure Document, but we ultimately decided it didn’t make sense.

I love that. You’re showing people that franchising is omnipresent—it’s everywhere—and that it’s a highly viable way to grow a business. It isn’t the only path, but it belongs alongside the other growth models entrepreneurs consider.

Exactly. I’ll share one more story. Four years ago, a first-year student came to me with a junk-removal business. He has continued to grow it, and now I’m helping him conduct independent research into whether franchising is the right way to scale. I love that.

We also have a graduate student with experience in both banking and franchising. She and her husband are considering becoming franchisees, and she attended the International Franchise Association’s annual convention. Whether they ultimately move forward or not, that brings me a great deal of joy and excitement. It’s about giving people access to opportunities.

I also mentioned the students who launched a technology company serving the franchise industry. As you said, there are opportunities for suppliers and many other participants across the ecosystem. I love what you’re doing at Harmonyze. I appreciate the invitation and have had a lot of fun.

If people have follow-up questions, want to get in touch, contribute, or become part of the Babson community, what’s the best way to reach you?

You can find the Tariq Farid Franchise Institute on the Babson College website, along with the Stars of Franchising podcast. My contact information is also available through Babson and the institute. Take a listen and let me know what you think. I’d love to help you or anyone else interested in franchising and serve as a resource.

Ab, thank you so much for being generous with your time.

Thanks, Gary.