The Franchise Council of Australia has flagged a shift in focus following the resignation of executive director Steve Wright, who has been commended for his \u201ctremendous\u201d contribution.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n FCA deputy chairman Stephen Giles told StartupSmart<\/i> Wright resigned \u201cabout a month ago\u201d after working for the council for five years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHe made a tremendous contribution to establishing\u2026 relationships with the various stakeholders across the country and also the media,\u201d Giles says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWith that role largely complete now, the FCA will be looking to consolidate those relationships in an environment where there\u2019s a lot less heat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at things now to embrace the benefits to members in areas like education, whereas Steve\u2019s focus was essentially on representation. We\u2019re looking to give the FCA a broader focus now.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wright led the FCA through some tumultuous times for the franchising sector, namely the introduction of state-specific franchising codes in South Australia and WA.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Giles says Wright resigned following a discussion with the board, but insists his departure was on amicable terms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There\u2019s no word yet on who will replace Wright, with Giles suggesting the FCA may undergo an internal restructure rather than finding a replacement. The FCA\u2019s chairman is Michael Paul.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wright could not be reached for comment. However, Giles doubts he will take up another role within franchising.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHis background was in public relations and communications and stuff like that. I would be surprised if he doesn\u2019t go back into that in some form, as opposed to running an industry organisation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Moving forward, Giles says the FCA is keen to help small businesses in general, rather than focusing solely on franchises.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSome of the small business groups who have been representing the interests of small business have not really focused on what we would see as core issues,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThey tend to have a handout mentality and constantly complain to the government about this, that and the other [whereas] we support the competitive framework of the marketplace.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe want to see the reduction of red tape and the reduction of penalties, making it easier for small business to compete.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking to find like-minded organisations. We\u2019ve been in discussions with people like the ARA\u2026 to say how can we improve the small business environment to make it easier for small business to compete and remove some of the government-created obstructions?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Franchise Council of Australia has flagged a shift in focus following the resignation of executive director Steve Wright, who<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}