March 20, 2017
36th Prix Veuve Clicquot goes to the president and owner of Jan Doets America Tours
ELSKE DOETS BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE YEAR 2017
NOORDWIJK – Elske Doets has been named Business Woman of the Year 2017. The president and owner of Jan Doets America Tours, a successful direct-sell travel organization specialized in tailor-made holidays to the United States and Canada, was today awarded the prestigious Prix Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award in Noordwijk aan Zee by the Dutch Minister of Defense, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The prestigious Prix Veuve Clicquot is awarded to outstanding and successful businesswomen and was previously handed out to Anne-Marie Rakhorst, Sylvia Tóth and Francine Houben. Elske Doets is the 36th consecutive businesswoman to be honored in The Netherlands since 1981.
The jury is supervised by former minister Annemarie Jorritsma and is empanelled by Hans de Boer, chairman of the employers’ organization VNO NCW, Michael van Straalen, chairman of the organization for small and medium-sized businesses MKB Nederland, Corien Wortman-Kool, chairwoman of the ABP pension fund and Vivienne van Eijkelenborg, Business Woman of the Year 2016.
Elske Doets is the president and owner of Jan Doets America Tours since 2001 and saw the company, which is located in Heerhugowaard, develop with an almost unprecedented growth. According to the jury, Elske Doets made a significant contribution to a positive perception of female entrepreneurship in The Netherlands.
”I greatly value this incredible honor”, Elske Doets said at the ceremony. “Winning the Business Woman of the Year award is totally unexpected for me personally, and I see this entitlement as a recognition for the company and my team.”
Doets was previously awarded the Chairman’s Circle Honors Award Brand, the travel industry’s Oscar for the 50 best travel organizations in the world for the USA as a destination. She is accredited with ‘discovering’ Canada as a travel destination and has been titled as the official ‘Mrs. Canada’ since 1995. A passion for the USA, Canada and her travelers is the key for Doets and her staff. Her business motto is: “Dream, dare, do.”