John worked for KWV and one of his major outputs was to look at the problems of random oxidation in South African red and white table wines during the late nineties. John always dreamt of starting his own tourism business and the beginning of 2001, he undertook in-depth research into the tourism industry.
In July 2001, John established Minnaar Shuttle & Tours CC. His purpose is to focus on the cultural and wine segments of the tourism industry.
Minnaar Shuttle & Tours celebrated their fourth year of success in July 2005.
John completed the Department of Economic Development & Tourism's Advanced Training Programme, which comprised of Marketing, Finance, HR and Business Management sessions. This program equips an entrepreneur with the skills to grow their business exponentially. He is currently also a participant on the extremely successful Tourism Mentorship Programme and consolidated effort between businesses including Minnaar Shuttle and Tours have yielded results with South African Airlines (SAA) and the African Market.
He attended the Cape Tourism Showcase in August 2005 and the Tourism Indaba in Durban in May 2005. These shows gave John the opportunity to expose his business to the market. He is one of three entrepreneurs in the Western Cape to become an ETEYA-semi finalist. ETEYA is the National Emerging Tourism Entrepreneur of the Year Award that is facilitated through South Africa Tourism.
"Provincial Government's Tourism Business Support System has equipped us with the necessary knowledge and skills by means of excellent service providers. This is very business specific and to the point and highly recommendable to any person serious enough to grow his/her tourism business," says John Minnaar
For more information on the Tourism Business Support System contact your local THD's:Marian Mecuur on 082 493 8161 or e-mail: blackstove@mweb.co.za, or
Titus Hendricks on 021 868 1707 or e-mail: ikhwezicentre@telkomsa.net.
