FNB announces the 6th Franchise Leadership Summit

Morne Cronje

The highly anticipated annual FNB Franchise Leadership Summit (FNB FLS) will take place at Indaba Hotel, Fourways on Thursday, 16 November 2017. The event is well attended by premium franchisors and companies that are interested in and those providing extended services in franchising as an expansion mechanism.

The theme for this year’s Summit is “exponential growth through entrepreneurship.”  Morne Cronje, Head of Franchising at FNB Business says, “Franchising remains one of the most resilient and powerful ways to stimulate entrepreneurship and job creation in South Africa despite the constrained economic climate. This year, we are putting the spotlight on entrepreneur ship in the context of franchising, with insights from a great line-up of experts.”

The speaker line-up includes: Brian Altriche, Founder of RocoMama’s (RocoMama’s journey); Gerry Thomas - Managing Director of Krispy Kreme South Africa (Investing in foreign brands: The case of Krispy Kreme); Ina Paarman - Founder of Ina Paarman (The Ina Paarman story); Simon Alston - Executive Director at Infinitus Holdings (Creating a business that attracts investment).

Emma Sadleir – Social Media expert (Navigating the minefield of social media); Jeff Zidel from Resilient Properties (The exponential growth of Resilient Properties) and Mamello Matikinca, Head of FNB Economics (Economic overview).

Cronje says the line-up of industry experts will shed important insights on how their businesses continue to defy the odds.

According to the latest survey of the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA), the franchise market contributes 13.3% to the South African Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and projected turnover is R587 billion. As a result, the sector employs over 300 000 people, with the retailing sector being the major employer.

The FASA survey further reveals that one in eight franchisors are represented outside of Africa, which means more franchise brands are looking at opportunities outside South Africa and the African content. The latter clearly epitomises the core of this year’s theme. Different franchisors and franchisees will unpack and offer strategies for entrepreneurs who want to use franchising as a model for expansion.

“Franchising remains one of the key tenacious and growing sectors despite the floundering economy; more often than not this fact is often overlooked. These are among the many key topics that we will tackle at this year’s summit,” concludes Cronje.