Roads Less Travelled

The Intrepid Challenges And RAW Travel Story

"A career in adventure travel seemed to offer the only realistic cure for my wanderlust" says David Reynolds, co-director of RAW (Real Adventures Worldwide) Travel and Intrepid Challenges. He and fellow Englishman Mike Howell are co-founders of the companies.

David and Mike have spent more than 20 years travelling and working in various parts of the world. In England, David organised and led "charity challenges", in which supporters seek sponsorship to go on physically challenging adventures. Mike, a stockbroker, had sailed the Atlantic three times and cycled 20,000 kilometres from his home in Jersey (the Channel Islands) to Beijing to raise money for the home where his mentally disabled sister is a resident.

In 2002, while working together at Intrepid Travel in Melbourne, David approached the directors with the idea of setting up charity trips within the company. He was given the go-ahead and quickly built up a client list including Care Australia, The MS Society and Oxfam. Clients paid Intrepid to organise fund-raising adventures abroad - a win-win-win situation for the participants, the recipients and the donors.

Mike joined Intrepid in 2003 to hlep David build the new business. By 2006, with the charity trips running successfully, David and Mike decided they wanted some equity of the business. They got it - and that's when the problems started.

The Challenge

To establish, rebuild and rebrand a sick business.

The Solution

Before setting up Intrepid Challenges, David and Mike went to Victoria's Small Business Counselling Service to consult with its tourism mentor, Judy Vanrenen. She brought objective eyes and small-business expertise to their passion and proposed a business structure including finance options, branding and an exit strategy (if needed).

David and Mike proposed paying a licence fee to Intrepid to use its brand and client list as the basis for their business. Intrepid accepted and Intrepid Challenges was born. The license agreement with Intrepid Travel gave them instant credibility and recognition through use of the Intrepid brand.

In addition to keeping existing clients, they had promotional access to Intrepid Travel's Australia-wide network of stores and its website. They also publicised their trips through the websites and newsletters of the charities they supported.

After a good start, David and Mike were soon overwhelmed by the logistics of getting the business up and running; they failed to chase enough new clients. Some contracts with existing clients expired and suddenly they had a serious cashflow problem. They needed to find innovative ways to invigorate the business - fast.

David and Mike found a way around their cashflow crisis by broadening their potential client base from charity-challenge participants and individual supporters. They began approaching corporate sponsors of charities, who could be involved by sending teams of corporate staff on fund-raising trips.

Money is raised through the combined efforts of employees and the company. Typically, a corporate employee has to raise $6000 to go on a trip. The company may contribute by dollar matching the employees' fundraising or by giving paid leave. For example, 23 lawyers from the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques cycled through Vietnam, helping to fund a Care Australia project that provides clean drinking water for school children.

David says: "The deal works well for the companies. The charity challenges allow the companies to present a human face, which makes them more attractive, particularly in recruiting young graduates. It is also great for team-building to have junior graduates travelling and sharing the experience with senior executives."

Corporate charity trips need less time for fund-raising than individuals because they have good social networks and the capacity to dollar-match their employees' fund-raising. David says "We avoid the crippling 12-month lead-in time which we had to allow for individual fund raisers."

Intrepid Challenges has recovered and is running well. And so is their RAW Travel unit, which launched at the same time as Intrepid Travel. RAW Travel provides adventure travel and competes against the large established adventure travel companies such as Peregrine and World Expeditions.

David says that as a relatively small player, RAW can sell on its personal service and depth of knowledge. "We live and breathe this stuff. A consultant at a large company is in an entry-level job and will not know the trips in the way we do." As the business grows, RAW will recruit other seasoned and passionate travellers who share their ethos. David says: "We'll provide them with excellent training, pass on our knowledge and send them out to take part in our trips."

The Result

Diversifying into corporate challenges has been highly successful. They now have ten corporate clients. The participants become ambassadors for the charities and Intrepid Challenges because they see the difference their fund-raising makes.

It has been a win-win-win-win situation for the corporates (who can promote their good works), their staff members (who consolidate as teams and feel that they are doing good in the world); for the recipients of the charity and, of course, for Intrepid.

In 2004, Intrepid Challenges expanded to New Zealand and into Canada in 2008, with four new corporate charity trips from each country. RAW Travel will open an office in Cambodia in September 2008 and is buying its own fleet of bikes to keep costs down and ensure consistent quality of service, maintenance and brand loyalty.

Author Credits