COLIN Ingram reckons he must have had rocks in his head to leave the public service after 30 years and start a small business of his own during the global financial crisis.
COLIN Ingram reckons he must have had rocks in his head to leave the public service after 30 years and start a small business of his own during the global financial crisis.
Resolve Global was founded on Mr Ingram’s extensive experience in protected area management, outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism management, as well as in tourism planning and development, recreation policy, and recreation governance models.
Before starting up his own eco-tourism business last September, Mr Ingram held senior leadership positions in the state’s Department of Conservation and Land Management and the Department of Environment and Conservation.
“I am passionate about the environment, especially national parks, Australia’s greatest asset, and eco-tourism, and have a particular interest in the relationship between the park, communities and tourism/recreation,” Mr Ingram told WA Business News.
But turning that passion into a successful business presented a number of challenges.
“Nationally, [ecotourism] is very competitive and it’s a challenge to crack it because of the cost of operating into the eastern states market from WA. And it takes time to build a company profile,” Mr Ingram said.
“The Northern Territory is the key market but there are some well-established relationships … that have been around a lot longer than Resolve Global.
“Ecotourism consulting is a very specialised area and it’s not possible to focus totally on ecotourism planning and development.
“I would say that most similar consultancies have a fairly broad base.”
In order to survive and grow, Resolve Global was competing in the recreation planning area, and in association with Aboriginal planning (joint management arrangements in national parks), which Mr Ingram said was a growth area.
“We also pick up work in heritage planning and valuation. We don’t want to get too broad. Gaining continuity of work in the ecotourism planning and development area in order to build a profile nationally and internationally is a big priority so that we can focus on our core area of business,” he said.
“It’s a dilemma; we would prefer to focus, but we need to survive.”
In the past year, the biggest problem for Resolve Global has been the costs of setting up and growing the business, while at the same time creating enough cash flow to meet recurrent business costs.
Although Mr Ingram had secured a number of contracts in the months after starting the business, he found he could not deliver on all these projects without employing staff or engaging sub-consultants.
Mr Ingram had to open an office in East Perth, which presented a cash flow issue with regard to overheads and set-up costs, including communication infrastructure, IT, furnishings, furniture and rent.
“It also meant chasing work that was not core in order to survive. It’s time consuming and you are not always successful,” he said.
To lift cash flow, Mr Ingram recognised that Resolve Global needed to have a number of projects running concurrently.
He worked to build relationships with other consultants with the intention of collaborating on projects.
“We have built relationships with well-established environmental and ecotourism consultants in the eastern states and with the research and consultancy arms of local universities,” Mr Ingram said.
“The eastern states consultants are looking to break into WA but find it difficult to do so on their own.
“Some had excellent environmental tourism products that they wanted to roll out in WA but the cost of doing it themselves was prohibitive; mainly because they didn’t have the contacts or understand the WA environment, or the resources to drive projects remotely and expect a result.
“While this has been slow to bear fruit, a number of projects are progressing.”
Instead of waiting for tenders, Mr Ingram proactively sought out opportunities on projects in the private sector by keeping in regular contact with a wide range of contacts in his network.
He was able to meet people and discuss possible projects and problems, and solutions.
“Some colleagues in my network referred work to me or sought me out to be part of other projects,” Mr Ingram said.
“It’s all about being energised enough to be in regular conversation with a number of people so that through that interest, convenience and the immediacy, your name gets included when a discussion about a project arises.
“When the opportunity arises the favour is returned. Essentially it is imperative to know at all times what’s happening in various parts of the industry and then follow up the leads.”
