C O M P A N Y O V E R V I E W
ELEWANA COLLECTION High Value And Low Impact In East Africa If entrepreneurship could be defined as seeing opportunities then seizing them and growing a business, Elewana has to be a prime example Written by: John O’Hanlon Produced by: Kiron Chavda
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The view from Elsas Kopje Meru
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Breakfast in the coffee fields at Arusha Coffee Lodge 4
lewana was founded by Karim Wissanji in 2004, but it’s worth looking back at the entrepreneur’s roots in East Africa; it would make a good film! Wissanji’s father Murji, a successful businessman in the Democratic Republic of Congo where Karim was born, was forced to flee the country after the expulsion of Asian citizens that followed independence in 1960. Arriving as refugees in Kenya with only the clothes on their back, the 14 members of the family made their home in a two-bedroom apartment But within a year Mr Murji had managed to acquire a few acres to farm, just on the edge of the Amboseli National Park where he built a traditional mud covered cottage. As a boy, Karim recalls: “He would pick me from school and we would spend the weekend there together.”
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As the farm grew, though, Mr. Murji added a few more cottages for guests. As time went on he realised his property had graduated from a shamba to an embryonic safari lodge. This could so easily be the start of our tale, but the family had no experience in the hospitality business so it was decided to sell the property to a tour operator. That could easily be the end of the tale, but 23 years later Karim, now a Canadian citizen, and his generation returned and bought back what is today the Amboseli Sopa Lodge set in 200 acres of private land, in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. This was the first Sopa Lodge (now there are eight of them). Today Karim Wissanji is CEO of the family firm Sopa Lodges, and also of Elewana, as he explains: “At one point the opportunity arose to acquire three small camps out of administration; one had been partially destroyed by fire, another was destroyed in the El Nino storms and the third had not been completed.” Inspired by their potential (two were in ecologically sensitive sites in the Serengeti and Tarangire ecosystem, the other in Arusha) he put a proposal to restore these with a view to creating a luxury offering in Tanzania, above the price point of Sopa Lodges. His vision was to charge a premium price, enabling him to create a sustainable business that would generate enough surplus to benefit the surrounding communities and to protect the wildlife, which after all is the USP of this region. “It was vitally
The Masai Experience in Tarangire
“It was vitally important to me that the communities we operated within actively participated in the protection of our wildlife. That they saw the wildlife as an opportunity rather than a commodity” – Karim Wissanji, CEO
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Hippos on safari trail
The Sand River view
Expedition Africa Self Drive
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important to me that the communities we operated within actively participated in the protection of our wildlife. That they saw the wildlife as an opportunity rather than a commodity.� The other family members, while ready to support him, felt they did not fit with Sopa Lodges, so he decided to go it alone. He approached a local bank, and when asked for collateral, declining to seek further family support, responded that he and the assets were the sole collateral. Somewhat to his surprise the bank liked his style and in 2004 agreed the loan. It was tight. He was not sure he could afford to complete all three, and asked the receivers to remove the fire-damaged property from the package. This was the property now called Tarangire Treetops, and it lay outside of the Tarangire National Park, on community-owned land within a wildlife conservation area but with hunting concessions that, he felt, conflicted with his vision. But the receivers would not play ball. More importantly, he says, the local community impressed on him the need to bring this asset back to life; it had been an important source of income in the form of rental for the land plus a per-person fee for every guest. “After the fire, the sole source of income for the community was marginal agricultural activities and income from selling hunting permits. We agreed to rebuild the camp on the condition that they would participate in conservation and protect against poaching, which was rampant at the time; and that they
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A warm welcome - the guides
would begin to moderate the hunting with a view to stopping it altogether as tourism incomes increased. Frankly, it was a completely emotional decision.” In the last year Tarangire Treetops operated under its former South African owners the community received $7,000 in revenue. In its first year under Elewana they received $170,000. Additionally more than $1.5 million has gone into community development, including building schools and training community members on hospitality. Now more than 80 percent of the staff at Tarangire Treetops are employed from the surrounding community. Tarangire opened in 2005 and perfectly illustrates the company’s vision. It has government support at the highest level, says Wissanji: “It is a wildlife management area and we are protecting some 60,000 acres which act as a corridor for
“The idea is that leisure tourism will create enough revenue and the community will no longer depend on hunting activities” – Karim Wissanji
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Our SkySafari Pilots
Dining in the Masai Mara
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elephants moving within the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem. The idea is that leisure tourism will create enough revenue and the community will no longer depend on hunting activities.� So the two damaged properties were rebuilt and the third completed and opened. This is the Arusha Coffee Lodge, a working farm surrounded by 2,000 acres of coffee plantations but only about three miles from the centre of the most important town in northern Tanzania. By 2008 Elewana had grown into a profitable group with its fourth property under construction. Entrepreneurship attracts its own, and it was then that he was approached by Minor International, the organisation founded in Thailand by selfmade billionaire Bill Heinecke at 17 (hence the name; he must surely be the world’s most
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precocious entrepreneur, having run his own street corner lemonade stand at the age of three). Today MINT is a $3 billion company with 140 hotels, among many other interests. There had been approaches from large tourism companies before, says Wissanji, but none of them interested him. After meeting up with Heinecke in the UK however, a 50/50 joint venture was agreed. “MINT was an amazing fit, and, sensitive to what we were doing in East Africa. The JV enabled me to fast track development of our business while retaining control of it. Furthermore, Thailand has always been associated with world class service and hospitality, a key pillar at Elewana and another opportunity to learn and enhance our own offering. It was also apparent to me that this was an opportunity to learn from Bill too.” Having created a sanctuary in northern Thailand for mistreated Asian elephants Heinecke clearly shared Elewana’s conservation strategy. The alliance increased the Elewana portfolio to eight, and paved the way to the next phase of expansion, the acquisition of the established Cheli & Peacock safari camps in Kenya, which Wissanji felt could have become his most direct competitor. Negotiations were protracted, but in January 2015 the deal was finalised. “I thought it critical that the founders Stefano and Liz Cheli continued to be part of the leadership of the business,” he says, “and fortunately they agreed to join the board and
Serengeti Expedition
“It enabled me to fast track development of the business while retaining control of it” – Karim Wissanji
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Serengeti Pioneer camp
Happy guests
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continue their active role. It is a testament to their belief in our company’s DNA and demonstrates their commitment to conservation.” Six months later, the two companies are busy adopting the best practices of each, and merging their back office systems, under the Elewana brand. However the fundamentals were already in place. “We were both founded on the principles of high value, low impact tourism; we both aim to create and offer our guests highly personalised and intimate experiences; and we both distribute a high proportion of our revenues to the communities within which we operate and to wildlife conservation locally.” East Africa has a great deal going for it, from the tourist’s point of view: a pleasant and predictable climate, political stability
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and welcoming people. From the beaches of the Indian Ocean to the permanent snows of Kilimanjaro, it also offers every kind of experience. This being the case it is surprising that the tourism industry in Tanzania and Kenya could have been affected by the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. Just out of interest it is 5,300 miles from Dar es Salaam to Freetown, so much of America is nearer the seat of the problem than the other side of Africa, yet some people still think of Africa as a country not a continent. The Ebola scare hit bookings to destinations in East Africa by up to 40 percent, says Karim Wissanji, and unrest near Kenya’s northern border with Somalia has not helped. Though this is far removed from the country’s national parks, and does not affect Tanzania at all, insurers remain cautious and the British Foreign Office has only recently relaxed its advice on travel to Kenya. However there’s really no risk in travelling to either Kenya or Tanzania. Elewana is a Swahili word connoting peace and harmony, and that is what visitors will find whether they choose the amazing collection of 14 safari camps and beach properties from Kenya’s Kitich Camp in the north of Kenya to the amazing Kilindi resort on Zanzibar Island. This last has to be the ultimate in luxury and romance, acquired from its original owner Benny Andersson of ABBA fame, where each pavilion has two pools, its own butlers, staff and private gardens. What a place for a honeymoon!
Company Information INDUSTRY
Eco Tourism HEADQUARTERS
Tanzania FOUNDED
2004 PRODUCTS/ SERVICES
Camps, lodges and hotels within the Elewana Collection has been carefully selected for their unique accommodations and their iconic locations, providing close access to all the drama and spectacle of African wildlife in exceptional comfort
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Sopa Plaza, 3rd Floor, 99 Serengeti Road, P. O. Box 12814, Arusha, Tanzania +255 27 250 0630 / 9 reservations@elewana.com www.elewanacollection.com