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Frying Pan: South Africa’s Famous Brand Ditches India For Ghana

Frying Pan: South Africa’s Famous Brand Ditches India For Ghana

According to Reuters, South African fast food group Famous Brand has pulled out of India, the world’s most populous country, and plans to enter Ghana, a West African country with a high unemployment rate and has suffered from chronic power shortages for the last two years.

The company operates a chain of restaurants under the Steers, Debonairs Pizza and Wimpy franchise in South Africa, Britain, the Middle East and 16 other African countries.

It re-entered India barely two years ago, but says after committing extensive resources to evaluating the company’s performance in the Asian country it decided to pull out. The company was facing tough competition from local operators in India.

Famous Brand now wants to focus its expansion in African countries other than South Africa, where unemployment concerns and rising electricity has hurt the economy. Interesting enough its new market target, Ghana, faces similar challenges.

The company plans to open 35 restaurants in the rest of Africa this year.

“The only box we haven’t ticked is Ghana,” Famous Brand Chief Executive Kevin Hedderwick told Reuters.

Despite difficulties in its main market in South Africa, it managed to post a 19 percent rise in operating profit to $56 million in 2014.