James is the Head of Wholesale, Retail and Franchise at Absa Business Bank. He is responsible for the development and implementation of Absa’s Wholesale, Retail and Franchise strategy, creating a centre of excellence for internal as well as external industry stakeholders.

In his previous position James was the Business Development Manager for the Fuel Industry at Absa. He has been involved in the Franchise and Fuel Retail Industry since 1997 developing sales growth strategies and solutions for the industry from a banking perspective.

In addition to a wealth of banking knowledge in excess of 25 years and expertise in the Franchise and Fuel Industry, James has a passion for the SME market in South Africa. He was a franchisee himself for nearly 10 years that allowed him a deeper understanding of the industry and the challenges that local entrepreneurs face in the South African business environment.

James holds a B Econ degree from the University of Stellenbosch and a Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Sales Management from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town. He completed various Franchise and Fuel Industry courses over the past few years.

Elana has been active in the franchising space in South Africa for over 25 years. She has consulted, trained and facilitated the networking of hundreds of franchisors and franchisees over the past two decades. She is a co-founder of the Franchise MastermindSA, a forum where franchisors share ideas and learn from experts in the franchising industry. She is actively involved in talks and seminars, sharing franchising trends and best practices. She is completing her Masters degree in Business and Executive Coaching and is passionate about using coaching as a tool for transitioning company owned business into franchises and empowering franchise teams.

Attorney – Andersen

I am a practicing attorney with over thirty years’ post-admission experience in the niche
practices of competition, consumer and commercial regulatory law as well as corporate,
commercial and other business-related law.

My expertise and experience includes
• data protection and processing,
mergers, acquisitions and sales of business,
• competition law,
• economic regulation (including international trade, data protection, life sciences, food
and beverage and consumer law),
• commercial exploitation of intellectual property, franchising and licensing.
I am recognised as one of the leading practitioners in South Africa in the field of franchise law,
and have served as an executive committee member of the franchise association of South
Africa for several years, and as its chairman in 2014/15.
Through my work in the franchise industry, I enjoy working with entrepreneurs and innovators
and find the problem-solving aspects of legal practice especially fulfilling.

Futurist and Scenario Strategist

Clem Sunter was born in Suffolk, England on 8th August 1944 and was educated at Winchester College. He went to Oxford where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics before joining Charter Consolidated as a management trainee in 1966.

Speaker

Today, my company MikeSaidWhat? works with companies and individuals from all industry segments, advising them on branding strategy, market development and customer service. MikeSaidWhat? specialises in the development and implementation of social media strategy for all business. My ability to impart his knowledge in a humorous and down to earth manor has made me a sought after speaker at corporate functions and conferences

Director at The Franchise Firm (Pty) Ltd

Lindy is and has been a Director of the Franchise Firm since 2012. She graduated from the University of Natal with a BCom in Management and Marketing. Since joining the franchise industry in 2001 as a franchise support consultant, she’s contributed to the development of a number of successful franchised brands. Lindy has served as a Council and Exco member of the Franchise Association of South Africa and chaired its membership committee for 2 years.

Attorney – Andersen

I am a practicing attorney with over thirty years’ post-admission experience in the niche
practices of competition, consumer and commercial regulatory law as well as corporate,
commercial and other business-related law.
My expertise and experience includes
• data protection and processing,
mergers, acquisitions and sales of business,
• competition law,
• economic regulation (including international trade, data protection, life sciences, food
and beverage and consumer law),
• commercial exploitation of intellectual property, franchising and licensing.
I am recognised as one of the leading practitioners in South Africa in the field of franchise law,
and have served as an executive committee member of the franchise association of South
Africa for several years, and as its chairman in 2014/15.
Through my work in the franchise industry, I enjoy working with entrepreneurs and innovators
and find the problem-solving aspects of legal practice especially fulfilling.

Attorney – Adams & Adams

Eugene Honey has specialised in Trade Marks and Copyright matters, as well as Commercial IP matters including Franchising and Licensing, IP valuations, IP Due Diligence and IP portfolio management since 1991. He acts for many local and international trade mark Proprietors, Licensors and Franchisors. He has been on the EXCO and has been the legal advisor to the Franchise Association of South Africa since 2002.

Director of D’Amico Incorporated Attorneys

I hold an LLB in Law (obtained at WITS) and have been practicing as an attorney for 31 years in my own law firm, D’Amico Attorneys.

I am an expert in commercial law, commercial litigation and franchising and my understanding of franchising law is invaluable to anyone involved in the franchising industry.

I also qualified as a Solicitor in England, the United Kingdom, completed my Canadian legal conversion exams and I am a Civil and Commercial Mediator (having obtained my certificate from the ADR – Alternative Dispute Resolution group in London).

Association Contributions

• I served as the legal adviser to the Businesswomen’s Association (BWA) and was instrumental in the merging of the BWA with two other women’s groups.
• I have been a member of FASA (Franchise Association of South Africa) for over 26 years. I have been involved in evaluating franchise agreements to determine whether they are compliant with the Consumer Protection Act for new franchisors who wish to become members of FASA and I am presently the chairperson of the FASA membership committee.
• I am also presently a board member of FASA.

CEO of InspectaCar

I am a dedicated and passionate manager with more than a decade of experience in the fuel retail industry where I have been responsible for crafting and executing successful sales and marketing strategies to bring about business development and profitability.

MD of OBC Group

Tony da Fonseca first showed his mettle as a dealmaker when he masterminded a link-up between the small advertising agency he was running and global communications giant DDB. He then took DDB SA into the Top 20 list of South African agencies. This cemented his position in the advertising industry but then something unexpected happened.

In 2008, the directors of OBC Chicken, one of DDB SA’s clients at the time, offered Tony the position of managing director. Because he relished the challenge of making his mark in the complex emerging mass market he accepted but quickly realised that to revitalise the business would require the infusion of substantial fresh capital. This the existing shareholders would not provide so Tony convinced them to sell the business and negotiated a deal that ensured access to capital and other synergies.

Tony then assembled a small team of enthusiastic go-getters and set about rebuilding the business. Best practice principles were introduced and special emphasis was placed on the all-important warehousing and distribution function. Franchisees came under the spotlight next. Tony made it clear that change was inevitable, for mutual benefit. Those that embraced the new dispensation received assistance that ensured their ongoing growth.

Tony’s ethical approach to doing business has earned him the trust of his franchisees, with a growing number becoming multi-unit owners. FASA named OBC Group Franchisor of the Year twice and the South African Portuguese Chamber of Commerce named OBC Large Business of the Year, also twice. Recently the chamber also voted OBC as Franchisor of the year for 2018.

Tony is passionate about franchising and serves on FASA’s Board of Directors since 2012, during the period 2017 to 2019 as its chairman and is a non-executive director of the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa.

Turning back to OBC, Tony’s long-term strategic plan is bearing fruit. Having moved into a custom-built state-of-the-art distribution centre earlier this year, the network currently has an almost national footprint of over 50 stores. Store numbers inside South Africa will increase to 80+ by the year 2020 and expansion into neighbouring countries is taking shape.

The OBC Group employs over 1,200 people and annual sales are in the multi-billion-rand bracket. Importantly, consumers, franchisees, suppliers (including bankers and landlords), shareholders and staff love the brand and what it stands for.

In his private life, Tony is happily married, has two teenage sons and lives in Johannesburg. He is an ardent cyclist and contributes regularly to deserving charitable causes.