India's hot new markets

Professor Egghead Science Academy provides after-school science classes for 5- to 12-year-olds and is anxious to tap India's growing middle class.

The upwardly mobile, English-speaking consumers put a premium on education and have the disposable income to pay for it, said Gary Tuch, who co-founded the Los Angeles-based firm in 2007.

The program, which has 60 L.A. locations, contracts with schools to offer its classes and workshops. Tuch said they're working to open franchised locations in other U.S. cities.

International expansion is also top of mind, specifically in India and Dubai.

"In India, there's a big discrepancy between low- and high-income consumers," he said. "But as this gap continues to narrow, the market for foreign brands can be massive."

Tuch is encouraged by the change in government.

"As a foreign business coming in, you're worried about government's policies that will impact your operations," he said. "It's important to have a government in place that's on the side of business."

He said the company hopes to launch later this year in India and would contract with a master franchisee who would run and maintain the locations there.