Atlanta, Ga.—May 31, 2002 —This Sunday, AFC Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq:AFCE) will announce that its brands will use their charitable foundations to develop strategic alliances, both domestically and internationally, to foster a social entrepreneurship initiative in Durban, South Africa.
The program will help bring together AFC’s franchisees around the world with small business entrepreneurs, governmental agencies and universities to stimulate local economies by utilizing regional vendors for everything from food products to construction materials.
“Our goal is that the model AFC develops will in turn be used domestically and in other developing countries to promote economic development and help break the cycle of poverty,” said Frank Belatti, AFC Enterprises Chairman and CEO.
Earlier this year, Church’s Chicken announced the signing of a master franchise agreement with South African-based Steers Holdings. Under the agreement, Steers will sub-franchise the development and operation of one hundred Church’s Chicken restaurants throughout nineteen African nations over the next five years. The master franchise agreement awards exclusive rights to Steers Holdings in South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Cameroon..
Hala Moddelmog, President of Church’s Chicken praised Steers Holdings for its work in this arena. “AFC and Church’s Chicken will now be able to partner with Steers Holdings to leverage existing franchisee training with the expertise of agencies like Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center to help convert human potential into powerful assets for social change.”
