“We want to be little travel heroes.”

Thomas Power first discovered one of Chile’s most spectacular national parks, Torres del Paine, nearly 30 years ago while scanning postcards in Santiago. “Blimey, what’s that?” asked the CEO and founder of Pura Aventura. I thought.

After the pandemic hit the travel industry, Power is now at the forefront of business – the UK’s first specialist tour operator to gain B Corp certification – looking to build a £20 million business and employ five times its current workforce.

Brighton-based Pura Aventura organizes walking and nature holidays to Latin America, Spain, Portugal and Antarctica, all with a lasting legacy stemming from Power’s time in the mid-90s for American companies taking high school kids on tours across Europe. .

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With “pockets full of dollars,” the now 52-year-old spends summers in South America and even sets up a cafe in Mexico. However, it was the Chilean Patagonia National Park that changed his life. “Why didn’t I know more about this place?” I thought. It was absolutely beautiful,” Power added.

To the United Kingdom, he felt that he had no power. “I was at a low point and had an unsympathetic partner. She asked me what I wanted to do. I told her I wanted to take people to Chile. She said, ‘Okay, do it.’

A chance meeting with a park guide and a five-hour conversation sparked Pura’s journey after co-founder Diego Martin lost his boat on a lake. “I can’t stress enough how ignorant I was when it came to running a business,” Power said. But there is evangelical love for Chile, Spain, and Costa Rica, and you should want to share that love as you get to know those countries. That never changed.

“You need a lot of resilience, ignore the no’s and keep going. That was the secret of longevity, energy, passion and perseverance. It is more important than me. The mission is a priority.

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It’s a refined power philosophy five years ago when he was accepted into the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program. “It was an amazing experience in terms of performance and turbo development,” he said. “Most of us have gone through commercial versions. Today we are launching version four of Pura.”

The travel specialist admits that the original version had a good idea. “A hobby with three guides and a similar attitude, lack of skills and ten years of hustle” is the company’s recollection of the early years. “V2 was about focusing on margins. V3 came after Goldman Sachs and we grew at an incredible pace.

Then came Covid and an industry was effectively banned from business for 18 months.

“Throughout all of this, we had a direct relationship with places,” Power recalls. But we’ve always been good at creating unconventional holidays that no one can copy because we’ve been adamant about not following the path and the classic tour guide model. We were not a reseller of someone else’s product. We don’t do that.

“We know exactly how we want to share the areas we want to share. The desire to really control the product and experience and cut out the middlemen who created complexity. Once you understand it well, you’re left with something unique and a reason to be in the market.”

Realize that you know everything and you have to keep learning, be a sponge and keep absorbing.

All this comes as the pound hit a 37-year low against the dollar last September, while Pura’s margins took a 20% hit just as it opened its South American route.

Despite the setbacks of the last three years, Pura knows that they offer unique and genuine trips, with deep local connections and a few departures every week to avoid careless contact with other travelers.

In an era where travel with paid influencers plays an important role in social networks, Pura are advocates of their mission through press, word of mouth and clients.

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“You start by being consistently unique,” says Power. Once people have been on our journey, they go ‘I get it now’ and understand why it’s different.

Pura’s ‘challenge rate’ is growing to 30% of where the company sits in 2019, as the travel economy bounces back and forth. 40% year-on-year growth and building a £15-20m business.

“This is on the back of three versions of mistakes and continuing to learn. Version 4 is learning enough lessons and how much more we need to learn. It’s a very exciting thing.

As one of the first UK travel outfits to become B Corps certified, the growing membership now adds up to £100m in revenues within that group. “That’s impact,” Power says.

“We want to be little giants. Our work space is not wide, but we go deep. We have a real impact on where we work.

Behind the brand: Pura Thomas Power on.…

Business courses

“The Goldman Sachs program was a four-month course. 30 businesses across the UK and no competing permanents. We partied through the mine and it was effectively an integrated MBA. The resources thrown at it are incredible, plus you’re in a room with other business owners.

“One thing you all have in common is imposter syndrome. It makes you realize that I am good at marketing or people and culture or finance. You just shine a light on it and it all builds up to a business growth plan. It was very practical.

Five years later my network is still going strong and the impact and benefits are amazing. I am still in the WhatsApp group and was recently thanking them for helping me with a recent project.

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