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Article Title:
Franchise Growth as Strategy for Employment Creation in the Fast Food Sector: The Case for Windhoek
by Ketiya Cathrine Sunde and Alida Regina Siebert

Abstract:
The primary aim of this research was to investigate if franchise growth can be applied as a strategy for employment generation in Windhoek. The researchers wanted to ascertain if there is growth in the fast food franchise sector in Windhoek and also if the franchises are creating employment. The research mainly solicited for the views of the residents of Windhoek. The main reason why the research only covered Windhoek is that the cost related to carrying out this type of research are very high if it covers a large area. The main weakness of this research is that it only concentrated on the capital city (Windhoek) and can, therefore, not be generalised for the entire country. Questionnaires were used as the primary instrument for data collection in this inquiry. The data collected was analysed using the Statistical Program for Social Scientists (SPSS). The article contributes to the literature on franchising as a strategy for generating employment in Namibia given the fact that it is one of the very few researches on the same topic ever done on Namibia. The inquiry showed that the food franchise sector is seen by the respondents as a viable means of executing business in Windhoek. The other significant finding is that franchising has been growing and generating employment in Windhoek. In addition, the other significant finding of the research is that the respondents strongly felt that franchises need to be incentivised so that they can grow further, and create more employment in Windhoek. The incentives that may be used include tax exemptions, government guaranteed loan schemes, export processing zones incentives and favourable municipal bylaws.

Keywords: franchise, franchisee, franchisor, growth, employment, Windhoek, Namibia.

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