Project to create 20 franchisors a year
May 9, 2007
By PRINCE MOENG
Cape Town - The Franchising Association of Southern Africa (Fasa) would launch a programme for potential franchisors in townships and rural areas within two months, Kobus Oosthuizen, the chairman, said yesterday.
The programme aimed to develop and grow potential franchising opportunities in underrated areas, by providing the intellectual property needed to run a successful franchise and to train them to have the necessary competencies, Oosthuizen said.
The organisation would identify businesses that had a franchisable concept. If owners wanted to expand franchise opportunities and come on board to create opportunities in townships and rural areas, they were welcome.
The target was to establish 20 franchisor entities a year. The programme would start in Gauteng and would roll to other provinces over time, he said.
Fasa and its members Business Place, the National Empowerment Fund, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, four big commercial banks and the Small Enterprise Development Agency, had each contributed about R200 000 towards this programme.
Fasa has held talks with the department of trade and industry in the hope that the department would assist with R4 million for sustaining the programme.
"Bearing in mind the pressing need for more jobs in our country and the fact that franchising is a good source to secure jobs, we are sure that government will recognise the value of the Fasa project and support us in this," said Oosthuizen.
Louis Nhlapo, franchise specialist at the Small Enterprise Development Agency, said the programme aimed to empower home-grown franchise businesses and existing small enterprises. It focused on a broad sector base to ensure that disadvantage businesses benefited.
"We hope the department of trade and industry will assist with funding," Nhlapo said.
"This would double the budget of the programme, already targeting five franchisors to be established per quarter."
Riaan Fouche, the head of franchise department at First National Bank, said the focus of the project was to target the untapped market, such as emerging small businesses in rural areas and townships, which had the ability to expand their own businesses.
The franchising industry employed about 400 000 people and contributed about 12 percent to annual gross domestic product, Fouche said. It had the potential to grow, provided small business were empowered.
Hilton Lazarus, the head of strategic business unit at the Industrial Development Corporation, said it had talked with Fasa regarding the franchisor development programme and would support it, as the programme would assist in building household branding and identify concepts that would be converted into franchises.
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