The 8th International Franchise Exhibition KEM 2006, that took place between the 17th and the 20th of February 2006 at the Athens Exhibition Center, ended with success, with more than 20,000 visitors from Greece and abroad. Based on the spectacular number of visitors, it is estimated that the total number of franchised businesses will increase by 1,000 businesses in the following year. These enterprises will have an annual turnover between €150 million and €200 million and they will be responsible for about 7.000 new employment placements.

The Exhibition was inaugurated by the Deputy Minister of Finance & Economy, Mr. Christos Folias, the Deputy Minister of Development, Mr. Yannis Papathanasiou and the Ambassador of Spain, Mr. Juan Ramon Martinez Salazar. During the inauguration ceremony, a short address was given by the President of the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce, Mr. Dimitris Armenakis and by the President of the Franchise Association of Greece, Mr. Yannis Iliadis.

The KEM 2006 Franchise Exhibition was sponsored by the NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE, while it was organised under the auspices of the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce, the Franchise Association of Greece, the World Franchise Council (WFC) and the European Franchise Federation (EFF).

In total 200 concepts, both from Greece and abroad participated in KEM’s exhibition. The participation of international exhibitors from 13 countries was significant, with Spain being the Country of Honor with 13 participating companies. Many interesting concepts were presented from countries like the USA, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, the UK, Australia, Ireland, Hungary, Turkey, Cyprus and of course Greece.
As a result, a high number of international participants are very close to signing master franchise agreements in the Greek market and with interested parties from other countries, who visited the exhibition.

The international participants this year were as follows: 18th October (Spain), Amerikai Hot Dog (Hungary), Blu Case Ecologiche (France), Chocolate Graphics (Australia), Contours Express (USA), Don Duarte (Spain), Echelle (France), Foot Efx (USA), Fun Science (Spain), Humitech (Cyprus), Infofranchise.gr (Italy), Lintaria (Spain), Peter Murray (Portugal), RFC (Spain), Silver Man (Spain), StopStress (Spain), Subway (USA), Trimage (Spain), Bioqual (Portugal), NBB (Portugal), Esinow (Portugal), Elevus (Portugal), Accive (Portugal), OneBiz (Portugal), Southern Fried Chicken (UK), Ticket.com (France), Sial (Germany), Media Force (Turkey), DakExpo Ltd (Hungary), Gruppo Publimedia (Italy), SIF (Spain), Vending Report (Germany), Excal (Spain), Zumo Juice Bar (Ireland), Fast Fix Jewellery (USA), FDS (UK).