Survey reaffirms the success of franchising ahead of FASA's Franchise Expo 16 – 18th April 2015 Sandton Convention Centre  A recent franchisee survey conducted by the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) has revealed some interesting results showing quite clearly why the failure rate of franchising is less than 10% compared to the over 90% failure rate of independent businesses. This comes ahead of FASA’s 20th International Franchise Expo (IFE 2015) which takes place from the 16 – 18th April at the Sandton Convention Centre. The fully sold-out expo proves that franchising remains one of the safest and lucrative ways to be in business and continues to stimulate small business development and contributes almost 10% to the GDP of the country. According to Vera Valasis, Executive Director of FASA, the aim of the survey was to serve as a benchmark on not only performance of the sector but more importantly on the attitude and satisfaction levels of the over 30 000 franch...

FASA appoints its first franchisee as chairman John Baladakis For the first time in its 36-year history, the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) has appointed one of its franchisee members as Chairman for 2015. John Baladakis is a Pick n Pay Franchisee.  His appointment comes at a time when the country needs to grow its economic base on every front, particularly in the small business sector. FASA was established as the franchising sector in South Africa was finding its feet. Today the GDP contribution of the franchising industry is estimated at almost 10%, with an excess of 620 franchised systems operating and over 31 000 franchised businesses countrywide who, in turn employ about 323 500 people in the sector. In his address at the FASA AGM, John Baladakis said he intended to build on the work done by the association over the 36 years of its existence.  “As a franchisee that benefited from the opportunities that franchising afforded me in the field of entrep...