FASA’S AWARDS CELEBRATE ITS SHINING STARS

The FASA Awards for Excellence in Franchising, held annually, celebrate not only the top achievers in the industry, but have become our industry’s highest accolade and the vehicle through which we show the world how successful franchising can be. With “entrepreneurship and empowerment” the two buzz words in South Africa at the moment, the Franchise Association of Southern Africa held their Awards for Excellence in Franchising at a gala function at Emperor’s Palace on Thursday 25th October 2007 in the following five diverse categories: Franchisor of the Year, Franchisee of the Year, Franchisor: Leading Developer of Emerging Entrepreneurs, Newcomer Franchisor of the Year, and Brand Builder of the Year.

Kobus Oosthuizen, FASA’s Chairman, believes that the franchising sector has always played an important part in both the empowerment and the entrepreneurial future of our economy but believes that the franchise sector can do much more.

“Franchising has the potential to change the lives of many more people and is perfectly suited to fit in with the economic empowerment plans laid out by government,” says Kobus, “What is needed is a more pro-active approach from those in the sector and more strategic direction. Whilst franchising globally puts people from all walks of life and often with very little business experience into business for themselves, we, in the franchise sector in South Africa, need to place more emphasis on assisting new entrants into franchising in both the funding and the mentoring fields.”

The FASA Awards for Excellence in Franchising put the spotlight not only on those franchisors that choose to be members of FASA and uphold high ethical standards, but also showcase how successful franchising is and the contribution that it makes to the economy.

Running a competition such as the FASA Awards is always a challenge – with impartiality in judging, without a doubt, the most important criteria. The franchise sector in South Africa is a pretty tight-knit community and to avoid any chance of bias, the task of judging the entries is given over to a completely neutral body of judges who, although they have no affiliation whatsoever with franchising, are respected academics, specializing in marketing, entrepreneurs and economics. This year the co-ordinator of the Awards was Dr Johan Louw of the Business School of Entrepreneurship and the judges were: BRAAM SCHEUN, JEFF DLAMINI, AUDREY VERGAEGHE and DAN MOGAMI.

Jeff Dlamini	Audrey Verhaeghe	Dan Mohami	Braam Scheun