Franchisees would be the beneficiaries of a government assistance scheme suggested by the Franchise Council of Australia.

FCA executive director Steve Wright told Franchising, the call for government action to support new businesses is at an embryonic stage.

“The proposal is something we intend to raise at the retail leasing forum. We will put it to others within the sector and test support and ideas on how best it could be implemented,” said Wright.

The proposal aims to support incoming franchisees whose investment plans can fall flat when funding isn’t forthcoming from banks.

“It’s more about individual franchisee funding than funding for systems, which are born out of existing businesses and already tend to have foundations,” explained Wright.

He said while the program would have new franchisees as the priority, any such scheme would be of interest to all small business.

The FCA forum will be held in either Sydney or Canberra in late February or early March.

“To date there has been a good response from the retail sector and relevant government departments,” Wright added.