The 2006 International Franchise Exhibition (IFE) held in the Sandton Convention Centre from 4 to 6 May attracted more visitors than ever before, with a record-breaking 1 600 square meters of space taken up by franchising concepts.
FASA (Franchise Association of Southern Africa), being in its 14th year, prides itself in setting a very high standard with the International Franchise Expo.
"IFE compares favourably with franchise exhibitions around the world," says Mark Harvey, the UK principle of VIP BIN Cleaning.
"I am really impressed with the high standard of franchising in South Africa and the enthusiasm for franchising that I noticed at IFE among all population groups. We are confident that our concept will fit in well within small business development initiatives." A valued opinion from someone who has recently opened a master franchise in South Africa.
"Connect Vision", a SAP VAR and member of the Silverhedge One Solutions SAP Business One Channel, in conjunction with "BigNews for the BusinessOwner", a premium SME newspaper, joined forces and exhibited at the show. There was huge interest from franchisors, suppliers to this market and entrepreneurs who attended the exhibition. Exhibitors included banks, NGOs, government departments, franchisors, various business opportunities, suppliers and quite a few other interested companies.
"Joining forces with BigNews to exhibit on the same stand was really a no-brainer. BigNews is one of the biggest distributors of factual, informative and relevant information to SMEs (small to medium enterprises) in South Africa. Connect Vision was first introduced to BigNews at the Master Classes and was impressed by their professionalism, dedication and the quality of their newspaper - these are qualities that are the key to success for any business or any collaboration," says Richard Uytdewilligen, Connect Vision.
"We were really excited about the feedback that we received from the exhibitors as well as the visitors. Where people knew of the SAP brand they were impressed and surprised the company had managed to pack so much functionality into such a quality-based product at such a compact price!" says Wallace du Plessis, BigNews.
The general opinion with regards to the SAP Business One Product Suite was a positive one, visitors were very glad that SAP was now catering for the smaller company, so that everyone could take advantage of playing in the SAP league.
"In an industry where time is money, they were also taken aback by implementation timeframes that could be measured in weeks rather than months," says Denise Henderson, Implementation Coordinator, Connect Vision.
With franchising worldwide considered the cradle of innovative entrepreneurship, the Franchise Association of Southern Africa foresees a bright future for the franchise sector in South Africa.
(Adapted from FASA Newsletter.)
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