Like most of her clients, Susie Potter was hooked on Africa after her first visit. Fresh out of school at the age of eighteen, she decided to indulge her passion for travel and took a job as an office assistant with an African travel wholesaler. Then at nineteen, Susie travelled to Africa and fell in love with the country.
From office assistant, Susie moved through several positions in the organisation, continually learning all facets of a travel wholesale company, and realised after several years that she had hit on a great niche market, and had the knowledge and passion to effectively sell Africa as an incredible holiday destination. And so The Africa Safari Co. was established in 1997.
The company began in Susie’s home with her as the only employee. Almost twenty years on, she now has eighteen employees, among them Business Development Managers (BDMs) who educate and advise travel agents in all Australian states, including regional areas.
Susie has been so successful in Australia that she’s since expanded into New Zealand, and has such passion for what she does that she offers educational trips to her travel agents, sending them to Africa so that they, too, have firsthand knowledge and an ignited passion, with which to advise their clients.
The motto of The Africa Safari Co. is, ‘The heart and soul of Africa’, and the business is well positioned to create magical bespoke experiences capturing the wonders of Africa for its clients. “All my staff have either lived or worked in Africa,” Susie says. “Similarly, all of our consultants continue to spend time in Africa each year so that they are always up to date with any new properties or activities available to our clients. We pride ourselves on the fact that we have that firsthand knowledge. All my staff will be selling products that they’ve either seen personally, or that someone in the office has seen personally. And we only work with companies, lodges, and hotels that we feel would be suitable for the Australian market and for our particular clients. It’s the experience and expertise that we have that lets us continue to trade in the way that we do.