Podcast #2 - Interview with Stephan Ekbergh Founder Of TravelStart

Welcome to the Travel Massive podcast, an interview series with travel industry change-makers and pioneers, sharing their stories and insights. Your host is Holly Galbraith, tourism expert and also host of the Tourism Tweetup Podcast (http://gofuturemedia.com). In this interview, we meet Stephan Ekbergh, online travel industry pioneer and founder of TravelStart.co.za - Africa's largest online travel agent (OTA). Details of Episode 2 with Stephan Ekbergh: He shares: How he got into the travel industry and found a mentor The opportunities he saw in the travel industry when he started his company How he moved his company Travel Start from Scandinavia to Africa The changes and innovations that he sees in the travel industry The challenges of growth in travel and its impacts Advice for new entrepreneurs who want to get into the industry Highlights: On where he saw the opportunity to build his business: "I focused all my energy on building something that could capitalize on the internet." "I always hated something about our industry is that the consumer was at the mercy of the travel agent" "I knew that we could at least replace all the bad travel agents with technologies" On finding new opportunities: "It's the guys with the biggest hunger for success that will end up winning" "Sometimes I don't overthink it too much but I just go for it if I see the opportunity - if I have the time and money for it" On innovation in the industry: "There is always the old guard who are protecting old business models, and the industry [in aviation] is such is still very tied into old monolothich way of working" "I thought in " "If the industry itself doens't innovate and change, someone from the outside will come and change it" On the challenges we face: "The problem with all the innovation and prices going down is that I sometimes question whether it's sustainable long term" "[Restricting capacity] is going to happen within the next 10 years" On impacting the future of travel: "We see our role to make it easier for Africans to access travel information and to travel" On biggest learnings: "The biggest learning is trying to figure out what do you want to do with your life, how do you want to live your life?" "I know quite a few successful entreprenuer who have miserable lives, and they are slaves to their own creations" A BIG thank you to Stephan for giving up his time to talk with us. Comment below or send us feedback to [email protected] The Travel Massive Podcast is now also on iTunes, please leave a review or rating.