In South Africa, the franchise industry has remained solid despite challenging economic conditions. Provinces such as the Western Cape and Gauteng remain attractive to local and international franchise brands due to their economic power.
The potential for business growth in Africa is exponential. The global recession has forced both business and consumers to be more innovative and deliver on exceptional products and services.
This has indirectly encouraged businesses to develop a progressive strategy that caters for a diverse and changing consumer market.
Franchise operations need to adopt new technology and learn new skills in order to keep the franchise model lucrative and sustainable. This not only encourages sharing of resources but encourages franchisees to invest in business concepts that are in demand.
“The current franchise landscape is competitive. We need to raise the profile of the industry and ensure its ability to be an effective lever of social empowerment and economic growth in Southern Africa and Africa for decades to come. This can be achieved if we work together and find innovative solutions that will ensure that there is greater diversification and growth in the business sector,” says FNB’s head of franchising, Morné Cronjé.
Interesting article. Having come from the franchisee side of the fence and now going to the franchisor side, the one thing that I feel is needed in South Africa besides some of the points mentioned is a separate franchise act. I have spoken to both franchisees and franchisors from different sectors and the frightening thing is the number of contradictions between a franchisee and franchisor from the same brand. Even more scary is the number of unscrupulous franchisors. Alot of what I have learnt and heard will certainly help me to become a better franchisor and thus adopting the motto that a happy franchisee makes for a happy franchisor. After all a franchisor should be looking after the franchisee as best they can. Yes we have FASA and the CPA. What can FASA really do to a non member and the CPA is open to interpretation when it comes to franchising. As I see it a franchise agreement is a” contract to a business agreement” between two parties and not a product or a service so get a lawyer worth his salt and I am sure he will find loopholes as they all do. An actual franchise act specific to th efranchise sector, I believe will not only raise the profile of franchising in SA but also prevent people from parting with their hard eraned money and get rid of the bad apples.