Our Consultants

Our consultants have extensive experience in the fields of franchising, business management and business expansion. In addition, we offer a high level of expertise in the realms of business systems development and franchise documentation.

Eric Parker

Eric completed his graduate studies by achieving a national diploma in metallurgy. After holding a position in this industry for a number of years, he decided to pursue a career in the field of marketing and completed a three year Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) diploma.

After working as a metallurgist at Haggie Rand Ltd for a period of seven years, Eric commenced his career in marketing and has garnered extensive experience in this field:

Working in the marketing department of Carlton Paper for six years. Managing Director of Kreepy Krauly / Perm Clean Pools for four years. Marketing Director of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) for six years. Executive Director of Interfare, the restaurant subsidiary of a listed company, for three years.
Co-founder of Nando's Chickenland, with his area of expertise being franchise and market development. During the seven years of involvement with this brand, Eric established and a substantial branch network and was instrumental in the rapid roll-out of the brand, both in South Africa and Internationally.
Founder of Parker Gordon Associates together with Bendeta Gordon in 1994. The focus of this consultancy was on franchise development and distribution channel formulation.

During August 1998, Eric joined Deloitte & Touché as a director with responsibility for the establishment of a dedicated franchise division. In September 2000, Deloitte & Touché Franchising merged with Franchising Plus, where Eric remains a senior partner to this day.

Eric is a past Chairman of the Franchise Association of Southern Africa (FASA) and served on its Board of Directors for many years. In recognition of the valuable contribution he made, he was named the FASA Franchise Personality of the Year in 1995. Eric enjoys an outstanding reputation as a speaker on franchising and small business issues at functions and conferences. He is also sought after as a strategic thinker and facilitates most of the operational planning sessions hosted by Franchising Plus. Moreover, Eric has written or co-written several books on entrepreneurship, including two best sellers in their field namely 'Run Your Own Business and Make Lots of Money' and 'Eric Parker's Road Map to Business Success'.

Anita du Toit

Anita du Toit has been in franchising since 1998 and has gained experience servicing diverse clients in the telecommunications, automotive and retail industries in the South African franchise sector. She also gained experience as a product manager in retail banking and as a Franchise Specialist at FNB Commercial. Anita obtained a Masters Degree in Marketing with distinction from the University of Pretoria in 2000. She authored papers published in academic journals, including the Journal of Marketing Channels and Franchising Law and Policy Review. She also had papers accepted for reading at the annual conference of the International Society of Franchising in San Diego 2000 (co-author), Orlando 2002, San Antonio 2003, and Las Vegas 2004. Anita also delivered a paper on Tandem franchising at the Economics and Management of Networks (EMNET) conference in Rotterdam in 2007.

Working as a franchise consultant at Deloitte & Touché, Anita was involved in the development of new products for the franchise market including the Franchise Systems Audit and the E test. While at Franchising Plus, the DTI commissioned Anita to write papers on Tandem Franchising and Social Franchising for its franchise division at the time, FRAIN. As a Franchise Specialist at FNB, Anita was instrumental in introducing the Franchise Think Tank and x2in5 initiative, an initiative aimed at doubling the franchise sector within 5 years. Currently, Anita is a senior consultant and partner at Franchising Plus. Anita's key strengths include conceptualisation of strategy, project management and research.