Alex set up Ecology Expeditions after getting help from the Bangor University Business Club.

Alex was studying for an Ecology MSc at Bangor University when he went on a tropical ecology field trip in Dominica. Already an experienced expedition guide and science teacher, Alex was having loads of ideas about how he could run his own field expeditions tailored to different science subjects.

For me the key was not to stop believing. I made myself imagine what it would be like to be running this business, how I would solve problems... I tried to make it reality in my mind. I still do this.

Ecology Expeditions

Back at Bangor, Alex got involved with the Enterprise Club run by Entrepreneurship Champions Lowri Owen and Ceri Jones. 

The club ran regular meetings for students with business ideas, to point them in the right direction and supply advice and contacts, including where to look for funding to get the business off the ground.

By this point Alex was collaborating with a fellow student who had lived in Malaysian Borneo, whose tropical jungle and seas they identified as perfect for expeditions.

The Enterprise Club assigned them a mentor and commercial spinout manager at Bangor, and with their help Alex rewrote his business plan and secured two grants from the Welsh Assembly Government. This funding enabled Alex and his business partner to buy trek kit and base themselves in Malaysia.

Getting the first expedition confirmed was not easy –especially when a critical tie-in with Universiti Malaysia Sabah fell through – but in September 2009 it happened. And, with bookings already taken, the business should be self-supporting by summer 2010.

Key players

Bangor University Business Club - "The club put me in touch with key people quickly. They understood my needs, and were able to feed me into the right area of their business start-up network.”