Four young entrepreneurs, who met while studying in Australia, are about to launch their own international adventure travel company.
Kevin Jackson (MBA) and Brian Roberts (MBA) from the United States and Juan Diego Valdes (MBA) and Matias Correa (MBus) from Chile met while studying postgraduate degrees at The University of Queensland to found The Southern Terrain.
The company conducts adventure tours out of Southern California, United States, into Chile that take in the spectacular South American terrain and include activities such as hiking, kayaking, skiing and mountain biking.
The first official tour for the company will be in February 2007 and will comprise a four-day hike and two-day kayak through the glaciers in the Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile’s Patagonia region.
Three of the founding members, Mr Jackson, Mr Roberts and Mr Correa, are due to graduate on December 11 (Mr Valdes graduated in July) and are looking forward to pouring 100 percent of their collective efforts into the company in 2007.
According to Mr Jackson, the four entrepreneurs met and were united by common interests in hiking and the outdoor lifestyle and hatched the idea for the company while creating a business plan as part of their university assessment.
“When we started out we all wanted to have a business but we had no idea what were going to do,” Mr Jackson said.
“We all surfed together, played soccer together, as well as other activities, and it was a natural progression to a stage where we wanted to work together on a project we were all passionate about.
“The process has been a really exciting one because we have changed our ideas multiple times, we’ve had some heated debates, and to come out to where we are now has shown how persistence pays off.”
Mr Roberts said the company was in an ideal situation to provide a unique travel experience given the local expertise the company had at its disposal.
“We have two people based in the primary market, and two people based in the destination which gives us a real advantage,” Mr Roberts said.
“The United States and Chile have different business cultures so having people that are familiar with, and operate in, those cultures gives us a huge advantage.”
The Southern Terrain has tours planned for Chile’s five geographically unique regions in 2007 as well as seasonal tours dedicated to skiing, sailing, and trekking.
Mr Jackson said the company was an ideal meeting of minds of four people from two separate countries that lead to a once-in –a-lifetime business adventure.
“I couldn’t have scripted this any better,” he said.
“When I left two years ago I would never have imagined doing what we are about to do.”
MEDIA: Sam Ferguson, sferguson@bel.uq.edu.au or (07) 3365 6662
