Military Vet, Small Business Owner Shares Franchising's Positive Economic Impact

San Diego, September 19, 2011

Franchising Public Awareness Campaign Features The UPS Store

The UPS Store® is the one of the featured businesses in this year's International Franchise Association (IFA) fall public awareness campaign.

The IFA campaign seeks to educate members of Congress about the positive economic impact of franchising, including more than 18 million jobs and $2.1 trillion to the U.S. economy each year.

This year's campaign features The UPS Store franchisee and veteran George Berkeley from South Orange, N.J. Berkeley, a former Navy systems engineer and Wall Street financial services professional, opened his The UPS Store location with the assistance of incentives and discounts from the IFA-sponsored VetFran program.

"Small business has given me the opportunity to give back to my community and continue to give back to my country," Berkeley said. "We're not only supporting other local small businesses, but we're also creating jobs for local college students in our town."

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses employ just over half of all private sector employees.

"As Congress discusses laws and regulations that impact small business, it is critical they understand the positive impact franchising has on our economy," said Stuart Mathis, IFA board member and president of Mail Boxes Etc., Inc., franchisor of The UPS Store network. "We need Congress to support regulations that allow small business to flourish and bolster the economy as it continues to recover."

Other franchise businesses that have been highlighted in the IFA Public Awareness Campaign include Dunkin Donuts, BrightStar and FastSigns.

To view the study "Economic Impact of Franchised Businesses," conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the International Franchise Association's Educational Foundation, visit www.buildingopportunity.com.

The UPS Store has been recognized as Entrepreneur Magazine's No. 1 franchise opportunity in the postal and business services category for 21 consecutive years, as well as the first franchise network in its category to receive an available pool of funding of $22.5 million for qualified franchisee applicants through Franchise America Finance^TM and The Bancorp Bank.

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*This is not an offer of a franchise. Any franchise offer is made only after a Franchise Disclosure Document has been provided.