Increasingly we see that more and more South Africans are going the franchise route when they set up their own businesses. Are they people who have got an entrepreneurial spirit?

Some people, unfairly I think, say that they are people who don’t have a sense of imagination, who don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in their body. They are dependant on other people to do the thinking for them.

Well, Kobus Oosthuizen, Franchise Association of Southern Africa Vice Chairman, joins us on the line right now. A very exiting event happening in Gauteng next week and that is an international franchising conference. Tell us about it. What are you planning to do?
The main event is the expo itself. There will be various forums and demonstrations by people in the industry. On Friday there will be a road show hosted by Old Mutual also covering a few topics in the franchise industry.

On the Saturday morning the IDC is hosting a conference, which is more aimed towards potential franchisees, giving them some more information.

Generally when I think about franchising, I think about pies, I think about pizzas, I think about bread, I think about fried chicken, but there is a lot more franchise opportunities than that in the South African market, isn’t there?
Yes, that is quite correct. The fast food industry was the first industry to introduce franchising and getting their retail network out there.

Yes, there are quite a number of other industries. Fast food is one of them, in South Africa we got about 14 or 15 other industries. In the US for instance, there are 54 industries that use franchising as a model to expand their business.

Everything from motor lubrication and all that sort of stuff, I mean we are seeing greater emphasis on the other kind of franchises in South Africa, aren’t we?
Yes, sure. The food is still the most representative one and then the retail sector, I would say, is second in line.

Then you have got your service industries, you have got your estate agents, which is quite active in the franchising game, the automotive industry is growing quite rapidly, the home improvement concepts are contributing quite a bit, and then healthcare and education training are also a popular concept.