Rotorua’s Praneel Nair receives Regional Master Franchisee of the Year award

Praneel Nair and his wife Sheetal with his award.

A deep sense of community and a desire to help out others has resulted in local businessman Praneel Nair being crowned Regional Master Franchisee of the Year at the recent Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards.

As New Zealand plunged into the first Covid-19 lockdown, Praneel Nair and his wife Sheetal had taken a plunge of their own, establishing a new Clean Planet (a cleaning service) franchise business in their hometown Rotorua.

With no clients and essentially no brand awareness, the couple turned the lockdown into an opportunity to establish Clean Planet by providing sought-after sanitising products and solutions.

Eighteen months later they have about 60 clients, including three schools and two Bunnings Warehouses, and are mentoring and developing a further six Clean Planet franchisees in the area.

This growth was acknowledged by the Westpac New Zealand Franchise Award judges, who commented that “impressive growth and performance outcomes reflect the hard work Praneel has put into understanding his local market and connecting with it”.

A firm believer in supporting the community that supports him, Praneel, as the Clean Planet Regional Master Franchise owner, has helped nine local families get their foot on the business ladder by establishing their own Clean Planet franchises.

“I believe communities thrive when people have a stake in them. Small businesses play an important part in this. I love Rotorua, and am thrilled starting and growing my business has given me the opportunity to help others create their own futures by investing in our region.

“The best part of my work is helping local people - who may have previously thought owning their own business was unattainable - establish their own franchise. Seeing my franchisees flourish and carve out opportunities for themselves is an amazing feeling. For me, anything I can do to help them prosper on their business journey, I will do.”

Building solid relationships is instrumental in Praneel’s business growth. This year, Praneel also threw his support behind the Rotoviti FC team, sponsoring the team and providing their uniforms.

“My wife and I were proud to be able to gift the name Rotoviti to the team. The name brings togetherness in the community, and any Fiji-born migrant living in Rotorua will associate themselves with this name.”

“I’ve always dreamed of owning a sports team, and while I’m not quite in that league, being able to sponsor the Rotoviti FC team is a close second,” says Praneel.

“Sport is an amazing way to connect with my community, and I’m grateful that my business allows me to help out in this way.”

This help also included sponsoring the trophies for the 2022 U&I Cup (a seven-a-side cultural community football tournament), which was held in Rotorua on November 28, as well as sponsoring the registration fees for the RotoViti Juniors FC for their development summer games.

Clean Planet chief executive Tony Pattison said of the award: “Praneel is a really deserving winner. He has used good old-fashioned hard graft to build up his business from a zero base. He has also really lent into our company’s ethos that people come first.”

“Clean Planet works hard to deliver services that better our customers’ health and wellbeing. We do this through greener processes, safer methods, and a focus on giving back to our local communities.

“With Praneel as our Rotorua Regional Franchise owner, we see this every day – he has supported others into business and helped them expand. He is the epitome of a community-driven business owner, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for him and his business.”