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 Giju Varghese
Head- Business Development , South African National Parks As
Head- Business Development South African National Parks, he
tells us about his responsibilities of the business development
unit.
What is your background and what led you to a career with
South African National Parks?
I am a trained hotelier and I hold a Bachelors degree in Hotel
Management from India. After several years of managing hotels
and similar establishments in related fields, my interests led
me to focus on organisational development. I then went on to
receive a Master of Business Administration from the U.K. and
continued my career focus to a broader industry base. As a
result of growing up in Africa, my passion for nature and the
need to apply good business principles in protected areas
brought me to the South African National Parks (SANParks).
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 What is your
responsibility regarding SANParks?
I am responsible for the Business Development Unit. I undertake
the management of the lodge concession contracts and outsourced
shops & restaurants. My unit is also responsible for various
tourism business development projects. Such projects include
analysis and implementation of further revenue generating
opportunities in existing state-run tourism operations like
extracting more value from activity based tourism products.
 What has been the outcome of the
commercialisation process of SANParks since 2002?
Key outputs of the Commercialisation process since 2002 is
attracting sustainable tourism infrastructure to the value of
South African Rand (R) 330m (USD1=R7), creation of over 650
sustainable jobs in rural areas and annuity income (net-profit of
over R110m in first 5 years since inception, thus also improving
competitiveness and product range of SANParks. The
Commercialisation process is considered successful and my team
advises various state bodies and private investors who are
interested in Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). We also
participated with the South African National Treasury in the
development of the Eco-Tourism Toolkit and advise various South
African provincial bodies and the private sector.
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 More about
Giju's activities
Giju Varghese has made various presentations including at the
World Forum for Tourism for Sustainable Development Destinations
2004 (Brazil), at the World Tourism Organisation's Regional
Seminar in Favour of Tourism Development in Africa 2007 (Gabon).
He has also presented papers and made presentations at the Tourism
in the Great Limpopo (2005 University of the Witwatersrand, South
Africa) and at the 2nd International Conference on Responsible
Tourism (2008) organised by Kerala Tourism and ICRT (India) with
India Tourism as a partner.
He has written an article for Enviropedia (2007). Other such
presentations and discussions include the Kenya Wildlife Society,
Tanzanian National Parks, Uganda Wildlife Authority, Ghana,
Department of Conservation and Land Management-Western Australia,
Ferart-Australia, and to Tourism in Protected Area representatives
from Namibia, Vietnam, Korea, Norway, Congo, Zambia and India
(Maharashtra).
He has given guest lectures at the Welcomgroup Graduate School of
Hotel Administration (India) and the University of the North-West
(South Africa). He assists with the Leadership Conservation Africa
(LCA), an initiative supported by leading global businesspeople to
assist African governments to elevate conservation and promote
poverty alleviation and job creation through nature-based tourism. |
