Akanksha Taneja was 14 years and 9 months when she started working at Oporto Penrith as a casual server. By 20, she was the store manager. A year later, she was the store owner.

Today at 22, Akanksha has several employees, including her mother Meenakshi, who is happy to help out with her daughter’s entrepreneurial career path. Meenakshi and her husband left Delhi and moved to Australia in 2008 to find a brighter future for their kids.

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It was an uncertain time, but their gamble definitely paid off as, this that led to Akanksha's franchise success. If Akanksha and her family were still in India, she wouldn’t have been allowed to work until she was 18.

“Initially [moving to Australia] was a little bit hard. My brother supported us. But slowly, slowly, it’s all good now. We’re happy here. Everything is fine. Country is beautiful. People are so good, so nice,” Meenakshi says.

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Managing a famous franchise is no small cost.

Over a ten year plan, Akanksha has to pay Oporto $50,000 franchise fee, not including marketing and royalty fees, which total around 10% of weekly gross sales.

Being a young franchise owner means money has to be on Akanksha’s mind, more so than her peers. Having a background in numbers certainly helped. Akanksha completed a degree at Western Sydney university before working at Novotel as an accountant for six months.

When her old boss called and told her he was selling the Penrith franchise, buying it off him was a no-brainer. A world away from corporate accounting, Akanksha now works out small closet space in the back of the store where she completes expense reports and admin work.

“The main thing that I’ve learned with my experience in working is valuing money. I know how to value money now. I know how much harder I need to work to get that money," she says.

Akanksha believes the franchise fee is a small price to pay for the help she receives from the head office. From dealing with suppliers, to assistance with marketing, Akanksha feels she’s very well-supported in the industry.

“Head office is there and obviously my family is there to support me. I’m lucky.”

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