Traditionally, facilitated education in the marketing world has been favoured over other methods of learning.  The more time that you spent in a lecture theatre and the more money you spent on the course, the more highly the marketing qualification was regarded. Today, in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where technology has become an indispensable part of our everyday lives, online learning in the marketing industry has been embraced by reputable education providers and is changing the narrative. Good news for entrepreneurs who have to wear many hats in their business! “The main focus of entrepreneurs, whether they are selling a product or service,” says Lisa Schneider: Managing Director of the Digital School of Marketing (DSM), “is to attract customers and convince them to make a purchase. Being able to afford a marketing agency or full-time marketing manager could be a stretch at first and communicating brand messages to the public would be a necessity, so essentially en...

Christo Botes (Business Partners Limited), Khomotso Malakalaka (National Winner) and David Morobe (Business Partners Limited) Innovative techpreneur, Khomotso Malakalaka, was announced as the national winner of the 2018 SME Toolkit BUSINESS/PARTNERS Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs – a competition that saw 800 young aspiring entrepreneurs attend business planning workshops across the country to equip them with the necessary skills and tools to turn their business idea into a reality. The competition aims to encourage, assist and inspire South Africa’s youth to start their own businesses as a means to reduce the country’s high unemployment rate by promoting entrepreneurship as a viable career choice. However, according to Petro Bothma, Enterprise Development Manager at Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS), who was speaking at the awards ceremony held this morning in Johannesburg, in order to do this, it is crucial that aspiring entrepreneurs b...

Anton Roelofse Entrepreneurship at any age is key to minimising unemployment in SA Whilst the country continues to battle a high unemployment rate – which increased to 27,5 percent, according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the Third Quarter of 2018 – the narrative of entrepreneurship as a viable career choice should be widely promoted and encouraged across all generations. However, according to Anton Roelofse, regional general manager at Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTERS), the recently released 2018 Real State of Entrepreneurship Survey, compiled by Seed Academy and Old Mutual, revealed that 80 percent of entrepreneurs in South Africa are under the age of 45, with the majority of entrepreneurs reported to be between the ages of 25 and 34. “In light of the high prevalence of unemployment, there is no reason that entrepreneurship should be reserved for the younger generation. Considering that only 20 percent of entrepreneurs are over 45, it is now more importa...

Gugu Mjadu Steps to building an ESG compliant business from the get-go Prioritising sustainability and socially responsible business practices has become increasingly important to potential investors when evaluating opportunities. According to the 2018 Schroders Global Investor Survey, a study by global asset-management company, Schroders, of more than 22 000 investors across 30 countries, 88% of South African investors indicated that sustainable investing is more important to them now than it was five years ago, compared with 76% of investors globally. It is for this reason that entrepreneurs should prioritise their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) score from the get-go to ensure investor interest down the line. An ESG framework is based on three central factors when measuring the sustainability and ethical impact of an investment. These three factors are categorised into Environmental (water usage and waste production), Social (treatment of employees in the workplac...

With the increased functionality offered by smartphones and the improvements in mobile accessibility, Franchisor Field Consultants can now be more productive while in the field. Until recently reports had to be filled in and then retyped and only once the photos has been manually added and the MS Word document saved to PDF, could the compiler email the report. A new future The MobiWork suite of products is a smartphone application that runs on the cloud which now affords small medium enterprises (SME’s) the opportunity to arm their mobile workforce with a cost effective, technologically advanced application that will improve their productivity, information exchange capability and customer satisfaction. The solution The MobiWork solution is a product of the Florida, USA based company, MobiWork LLC and is offered in South Africa by Caracal Software Solutions (Pty) Ltd, a Pretoria based company that specialise in Productivity improvement systems. The basic functionality avail...

Michael Vacy-Lyle, CEO FNB Business The franchising sector has shown steady growth over the past four years, in a tough economy from contributing an estimated 9.7% to the country’s GDP in 2014 to its recent figure of more than 15%, according to the Franchising Association South Africa (“FASA”) 2018 survey. This trend is expected to continue. The survey further highlights that 78% of franchisors are optimistic about future growth in their businesses. Around 30% of franchises are now owned by previously disadvantaged South Africans, with one in three franchises turning over more than R20m per annum. This together with the fact that on average a franchise employs 18 staff members (the sector employs more than 370 000 people), makes it clear that as a business model, franchising remains critical to the future of South Africa. Given the FNB Franchise Leadership Summit theme this year – “the future of the franchising sector”- I thought it would be good to reflect on some of the key ...

Lucky Shabalala and Christo Botes Business plan competition for young, aspiring entrepreneurs announced Johannesburg regional winner The 2018 SME Toolkit BUSINESS/PARTNERS Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs has announced Lucky Shabalala as the regional winner for Johannesburg after submitting his business plan for his company, Entertainment Neighborhood - a video gaming company. Entertainment Neighborhood provides the use of video gaming facilities at R10 per hour to individuals from low-income households in the townships of Vereeniging. Shabalala started the company by using his personal gaming console which he set up outside a local hair salon. Today, Entertainment Neighborhood consists of eight PlayStation 4 consoles, eight UHD TVs, and 32 video games. “Now in its 9th year, the competition aims to promote South African entrepreneurship amongst individuals between the ages of 18 and 35, by bridging the gap between simply having an idea, to actually...

Renewing its confidence  in the franchise sector Sanlam has, for the fifth year, confirmed its sponsorship of the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA)’s 2019 Franchise Surveys.The surveys are an important barometer that track the success of this unique business system which in the latest survey shows an estimated turnover of R721 billion equivalent to 15,7% of the total country’s GDP. Its 865 franchise systems support over 45 000 outlets operated by franchisees who in turn employ 369 573 people. This contribution to the South African economy by the franchise sector has continued on an upward trajectory in spite of adverse economic conditions, socio-political factors and often challenging business regulations. The Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA), which has represented the sector for the past forty years, welcomes the forward-thinking intentions of President Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni who promise a ‘new dawn’ for the country, with t...

An important (and highly anticipated) event on the Signarama calendar is the World Expo which recently took place in Cancun, Mexico. Southern Africa was well represented at the event which took place from 23-27 October. The event is the meeting place for Signarama franchisor and franchisee partners from around the World. The event is an opportunity for everyone to learn the best practices across various aspects of the business, to receive motivational messages from top international business experts, to receive updates on the latest global technologies in the signage and branding industry, and importantly to recognise the top achievers in the Signarama network. Signarama Southern Africa franchisor, represented by Kurt Tyack, received the award for the Master Partner of the Year as the top performing Signarama country network in the World (outside of the US and Australian markets). The award is the culmination of a great deal of hard work, and was accepted with a great deal of pride...

Over the past few months, we have published a series of articles designed to encourage those of you who want to go into business for themselves but not by themselves to consider investing in a franchise. We stressed that whilst there are no guarantees, operating under an established brand and with the franchisor’s full support improves a newcomer’s success chances considerably. Fair enough, but what does franchisee support consist of? After examining accepted best practice on this topic, we ask Tony da Fonseca, managing director of the OBC Group and chairman of FASA, to tell us how his organisation handles the franchisee support function. Franchisee support – what does the term mean? After looking at several local and international examples of best practice in franchisee support, we concluded that whilst business sector-specific differences do exist, a set of overarching principles applies to any and all franchises. First and foremost, a clear distinction must be made betwe...

Pavit Ramnarain Given the volatile nature of local markets in recent years, smooth bonus funds have increased in popularity among cash-strapped South Africans seeking a more stable ride to retirement. This most likely shows that South Africans, especially those who are most vulnerable, are opting for all the protection from market volatility that they can get. The results from the latest Momentum / UNISA Consumer Financial Vulnerability Index (CFVI) reveal a worsening trend across all indicators of financial vulnerability. In light of this, Pavit Ramnarain, Actuary at Momentum Corporate, believes that employers and retirement fund trustees could protect retirement fund members by offering them the best possible investment solution for their retirement savings – both in terms of capital guarantees and highly competitive fee structures. “We believe that a combination of low financial literacy and capability levels, as well as poor consumer financial behaviour, are the core under...

Richard Mukheibir Several years of strong sectoral growth combined with business opportunities that are often backed by an investor safety net is making franchising the top choice for many who want to own their own business.  This assessment is based on the strong foundations of my own experience of establishing Cash Converters nearly a quarter century ago and the recent results of Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) annual industry survey. These figures show that the SA franchise industry has grown its turnover by 55 percent from R465 billion in 2014, when FASA conducted its first survey, to R721 billion in 2017. Alongside this, the sector’s contribution to South Africa’s GDP has expanded by 62 percent, from 9.7 percent in 2014 to 15.7 percent in 2017. The President’s recent Job Summit highlighted the critical need to reduce unemployment and boost the national economy by growing business and stimulating job creation. The franchise sector employs 369 573 people, 9...

Jeremy Lang Many South African small and medium enterprise (SME) owners are grappling with the stress and strain of running a business. This was confirmed by the findings of the second quarter 2018 SME Confidence Index, which reveals that 76 percent of the SME owners surveyed say that the pressure of running their own business can sometimes be overwhelming and limit their potential. Stress, however, is in many ways inevitable for entrepreneurs. So in light of Mental Health Awareness Month, Jeremy Lang, regional general manager at Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS), says that it is vital for entrepreneurs to know how to manage their stress in order to prevent it from negatively affecting their physical and mental health, which in turn may have a detrimental impact on their business’ growth. The first step to better manage feelings of being overwhelmed, according to Lang, is to understand the underlying reasons for the stress and ensure that the corrective measures ar...

A relatively large number of players in the franchise sector are lagging behind with the implementation of meaningful B-BBEE initiatives. This could create the impression that the sector resists transformation but this is not the case at all. We decided to examine the situation and came up with the following findings. Problem statement Transformation in the franchise sector has indeed been slow. This is an unintended consequence of the criteria for transformation set out in the B-BBEE Act. The Act lists five elements for compliance: Ownership, management control, skills development, enterprise development and socio-economic development. The weightings applied in terms of the Act placed emphasis on ownership and management control. Meeting requirements in these two areas created difficulties for franchisors and their franchisees alike. FRANCHISORS Responsible franchisors pride themselves on assuming moral responsibility for their franchisees’ success chances. This forces them ...

With Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni’s mini-budget speech still resonating and giving some hope with his call that ‘together, as a country, we can rebuild and recast our future... and choose a path that takes us to faster and more inclusive economic growth and strengthens private and public sector investment,’ the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Small Business Institute (SBI). According to Vera Valasis, FASA’s Executive Director  ”the collaboration with SBI will provide FASA with an official ‘voice’ to be represented and lobby through the SBI at BUSA level on business related issues that arise on a regular basis.  We hope our involvement with both the SBI and BUSA will help strengthen the voice of small business and franchising in particular to government.” The Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) has a proud 40 year history of nurturing entrepreneurship through the franchise business system and o...

Nico Viljoen Written by Nico Viljoen, Executive Director, The Tax Shop Franchise Group The term ‘brand’ originally derives from traditional farming practices, where farmers used branding irons to mark their animals, so that they knew which animal belonged to which farm. The term was later adopted by producers of consumer goods to distinguish their product from others that were similar.  ‘Coca Cola’, and ‘Pepsi’ are obvious 20th century examples of this.  A brand became the name which told the client or consumer the source of a service or product. In today’s world of sophisticated marketing communications, the brand concept has become more complex.  The term ‘brand’ no longer only refers to the name of a service or product, it extends to a company’s whole offering – ‘the intangible sum of a service’s or product’s attributes’ as David Ogilvy put it.  The Tax Shop Franchise is a strong brand that provides value to the organisation well beyond its tangible wort...

Leonie Finch The current economic landscape is having a detrimental effect on both consumer and business confidence, however, PWC’s Family Business Survey: New vines from strong roots 2016/2017 reveals that South Africa’s family business sector is set for quick and aggressive growth over the next five years. This is according to Anton Roelofse, Regional General Manager at Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS), who says that the report reveals that whilst other businesses are struggling to create revenue, around 78 percent of South African family businesses reported growth during 2017, and 62 percent are expecting to grow steadily over the next five years. “These growing businesses are essential to bolster the struggling economy, so if a person finds themselves in a position to take over a family business, this may be a great opportunity for them to consider.” Taking over a family business, however, can be daunting for many reasons, says Roelofse. For Business Partners ...