Women have traditionally been the dominant buyers and sellers of travel, yet their numbers aren’t always reflected in the highest decision-making positions in the industry which typically means a huge disparity in both pay and opportunity.
The Travel Franchise and its customer-facing brand Not Just Travel have a strong female presence with women making up over 60 per cent of its senior management although founded by two men, Steve Witt and Paul Harrison.
TTF head of marketing, Jenny Farenden, is determined to champion women in the workplace and show that travel franchising is a sector which enables equal opportunities.
Farenden is keen to spread the word that not only are 60 per cent of franchisees women, but the majority of the company’s highest achievers are female. Over 73 per cent of the company’s highest earners (Plat 3 or above) are women and over 70 per cent of franchisees who have succeeded in achieving TTF’s unique Money-Back Challenge — where your franchise fee is refunded if you sell a certain amount of bookings in a set time period — are female.
Says Farenden: “The Travel Franchise enables anyone, regardless of experience, to open a travel consultancy, be their own boss, set their own goals, decide on their own salary and recruit who they wish if the business expands. It also enables the owner to choose their own hours.
She adds: “Many of our highest achievers are women who have stayed at home to bring up a family or wish to stay at home in order to be there for their kids. A travel consultancy allows these types of franchisees to be successful in business, but still have the flexibility to attend school runs, sports events and other extracurricular activities.
“Other successful homeworking franchisees are older and have switched careers due to lack of promotion or redundancy or have chosen travel because they are passionate about helping others.
“Owning a travel franchise can provide equal opportunity regardless of your sex, age or previous career. We offer the training and support to help anyone who works hard to succeed. We also have plenty of female franchisees who are inspirational ambassadors having set up a thriving business despite having to look after three young kids, attend hospital for chemotherapy or hold down a full-time job at the same time.”
CASE STUDIES
Palvi Harvey, a frustrated 40-something mum that made £3million in sales in five years
“Launching my own travel business has changed my life. I can juggle my hours around the girls – although sometimes I have to work late or on weekends. But the satisfaction I get is immeasurable. I’m glad I took the plunge – it was a big risk, but one I’ll never regret.”
Mum of three boys under eight, Reshma Aggarwal joined during the pandemic and succeeded in selling 1.2 million worth of holidays in under 18 months.
“It’s changed my life. I juggle work around my three young boys but I’m also doing something really amazing: making friends and money.”