Recognising Growth · Innovation · Global Competitiveness

World Franchise
& Licensing Awards

Hosted by Retailer Media and Franchise India, the WFLA honours outstanding achievers across the global franchise and licensing industry — a prestigious stage for the concepts and businesses shaping how brands grow, license, and expand internationally.

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World Franchise & Licensing Awards

The World Franchise & Licensing Awards (WFLA), hosted by Retailer Media and Franchise India, honour outstanding achievers in the global franchise and licensing industry. The awards provide a prestigious platform for successful franchise concepts and licensing businesses to be showcased on an international stage. They also serve as a national benchmark for identifying the most promising international franchise concepts and the best brands for licensing collaborations in 2026-2027.

Why Nominate Your Brand?

The WFLA Awards celebrate and recognise some of the most successful:

Franchisors

Global Licensors

Licensees

Multi-Unit Franchisees

International Franchisors

Showcase your franchise to investors, franchisee and licensees internationally

The WFLA Awards offer a prestigious platform to present your global franchise and licensing brand to a wider network of business investors and franchisees through the extensive reach of Franchise India, Retailer Media, License India, entrepreneurs, affiliates, and chambers across India and neighbouring markets such as the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Build trust and confidence in your brand

Winning a WFLA Award can help strengthen your brand's credibility, accelerate growth in India, and support your expansion across Asia and the Middle East.

Gain recognition for excellence in franchising and licensing

The WFLA Awards serve as an industry benchmark for outstanding franchising and licensing systems, evaluating brands against a rigorous franchising and licensing framework. Companies and franchisees are recognised for excellence in a wide range of categories.

Gain extensive PR coverage in Retailer Media and IndianRetailer.com, FranchiseTV and License India

The WFLA Awards extend the recognition beyond the gala evening, with exclusive and extensive coverage of the brand via prominent franchise and retail magazines, IndianRetailer.com, FranchiseTV and License India Magazine, reaching a large and highly engaged audience.

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Kumar Nitesh

CEO – AJIO Business & Trends Footwear, Reliance Retail

With over 24 years of leadership across India, Thailand, Bangladesh, and the Middle East, Kumar Nitesh is a visionary driving large-scale retail transformation and sustainable business growth in Asia. As CEO of AJIO Business & Trends Footwear at Reliance Retail, he is spearheading innovation across product, format, and market strategies to elevate homegrown fashion brands in the Indian footwear industry.

Kumar is known for his customer-centric, data-driven approach—successfully launching disruptive retail formats, executing strategic market entries, and engineering business turnarounds. He has managed P&L portfolios exceeding $400 million, scaled private labels, and built high-impact teams that deliver consistent, profitable growth. His career foundation was built at Bata, where he spent over 14 years in senior leadership roles across South and Southeast Asia, followed by a successful stint with Apparel Group MENA, managing global brands like Hush Puppies, Dune London, Crocs, and Naturalizer across the GCC. At Reliance Retail, Kumar Nitesh has been instrumental in leading the turnaround of iconic brands like Lee Cooper, John Player, Payless, Catwalk, Performax, and Fashion World. He is driving the next phase of growth for AJIO and Trends Footwear through franchise-led expansion, private label scaling, and mass-market innovation. His leadership has also pioneered B2B and B2B2C strategies to bridge the gap between India’s organized and unorganized retail sectors. Under his guidance, the business has consistently delivered double-digit growth, built high-performance teams, and scaled profitably across diverse retail formats. Philosophy & Leadership.

“People do not buy products. They buy stories, experiences, and magic.” This belief defines Kumar’s leadership style—purpose-driven, empathetic, and performance-focused. His spiritual grounding fuels his clarity, creativity, and ability to inspire high-performing, values-led teams. Educationally enriched by RetailCo (Singapore) and ADVANCO (Europe) programs, Kumar blends a deep understanding of Asian consumer behavior with insights into European retail best practices, giving him a unique ability to scale businesses across geographies.

Prabhdeep Singh

Founder and CEO, RED Health

Prabhdeep Singh is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RED Health, India’s pioneering company dedicated to revolutionizing medical emergency response services. At the company’s helm, Prabhdeep leads comprehensively, overseeing strategic vision, financial and operational management, risk assessment, innovation initiatives, and stakeholder relations. His leadership style combines forward-thinking strategies with practical implementation, driving the company toward its goal of becoming the world’s best medical response organization. Prabhdeep’s educational background forms the foundation of his expertise in healthcare innovation. He holds dual MBA degrees from INSEAD (2015-2016) and another specializing in B.Pharma JD, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration from SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (2006-2011). The idea for RED.Health was born during Prabhdeep’s time at INSEAD, where he and his peers identified a critical gap in India’s healthcare ecosystem. This realization led to extensive market research and the development of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for managing ambulance operations, culminating in the official establishment of RED Health in 2016.

With a career spanning over a decade in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, Prabhdeep brings a wealth of experience to his role. He participated in the MAN Impact Accelerator program 2018, showcasing his commitment to social entrepreneurship. Earlier, he was part of the Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Leadership Program from May 2011 to July 2015 and served as an Executive Assistant to Glenmark’s Chairman & MD in 2010. His career began with a technical internship at Ranbaxy in 2007, which laid the foundation for his future endeavors in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. His dedication to continuous learning and personal growth is reflected in his recognition by Forbes as one of the “30 under 30 Asia” in 2018 and as one of the “35 under 35” in the same year by Entrepreneur magazine. Prabhdeep aspires to steer RED Health towards more advanced, customer-centric solutions. His vision includes implementing auto-dispatch systems triggered by customer needs, aiming to streamline decision-making processes and enhance response times. This approach highlights his commitment to continually improving healthcare services through tech innovation. Beyond his professional achievements, Prabhdeep is an active sportsman, an avid reader, and a tireless traveller.

World Franchise & Licensing Awards