Stephan Ekbergh, founder and CEO, Travelstart
Stephan Ekbergh heads up Africa's largest OTA, Travelstart, which has a presence in 15 countries across Africa, the Middle East and Turkey. At Phocuswright Europe 2019, he takes part in the Spotlight: The Middle East Opportunity session to discuss key trends in the region.
In a series of interviews with executives participating at the event in Amsterdam in May, PhocusWire finds out what makes them tick...
What's the one travel mistake you see people making more than anything else?
I would say most entrepreneurs I meet fail to understand how complex the supply side is and how much you need to invest there, how much time it takes to build solid relationships and make this work from a revenue-generating perspective.
The second thing is the cost of getting their product to the market: some simply forget this. They think a great product is all that’s needed.
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
What are the gaps in your experience and knowledge of the industry?
In general, the industry is pretty naive about the impact of FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) since, historically, entry barriers have been pretty low and people from all walks of life have entered the industry and done sometimes very well.
This is much harder now with tons of capital flowing in attracting very smart people. I remember 20 years ago the kind of people working in the OTA space. Now most of them, myself included, wouldn’t even have been considered for an interview.
Why isn't the travel startup survival rate higher than it is?
Im not sure if we have higher or lower survival rates than other industries. The questions is also what we consider success or failure. You can fail according to you business plan but still survive where investors take a 90% cut. Clearly a failure but they “survived,” or just about survived.
I remember 20 years ago the kind of people working in the OTA space. Now most of them, myself included, wouldn’t even have been considered for an interview.
Stephan Ekbergh
Looking back when we did business in Scandinavia, my company was the market leader in the OTA space. I sold to a private equity firm that did a rollup and acquired #1-2-3-4. But this opened a market for #5-6-7 who have all been sold to other industrials, etc.
The travel industry is attracting people with a flair for opportunism. Those that somehow manage to survive one way or another are those with strong customer and sales focus. Somehow they always survive. I read somewhere that survival rate is around 20%, I believe this was from Tnooz many years back. Twenty percent is bloody good.
How much of your time do you try to keep unscheduled?
As much as humanly possible, preferably 50%.
Who is the person you most admire within the industry?
I admire a great deal of people: Freddie Laker, Herb Kelleher, Simon Spies, Jan Carlzon (in his days as SAS CEO), Barry Diller, Dara Khosrowshahi - wow what a great job he did with Expedia and now Uber - Henrik Kjellberg, also ex-Expedia, Glenn Fogel, Filip Filipov, Siew Hoon Yeoh.
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I admire a lot of people who have, like myself, served and survived in this industry a long time come hell or high water. Plus Dhruv Shringi (Yatra), John Guscic (Webjet), Ross Veitch (Wego), Sam Shank for deciding to make his company profitable when he couldn’t raise any more money and finally selling to Airbnb.
What's your one travel hack everyone should know?
1. If you travel economy, throw away the in-flight magazine and all the stuff in seat in front of you and you’ll gain 1/2 inch leg space.
2. Earplugs and shades.
What do you do to alleviate stress?
Read, run, write.
What's your morning routine?
I read the Bible every morning, I journal and then I run or go to yoga then have breakfast.
What would you tell your 20-year-old self?
Remember: You're not as bad as people say when things go to shit, and also remember you’re not as good as people say when things are going your way.
What was the best part about a previous job that you had?
The only other job I've ever had was being a DJ. That was pretty hard, doing five nights a week in nightclubs, but i loved the instant verification if something I played worked or not. I loved the interaction with the crowd. That was truly amazing.
* Correct: The spellings of Siew Hoon Yeoh and Dhruv Shringi have been updated
Spotlight: The Middle East Opportunity
Hear from two industry pioneers in the region on key trends happening in an incredibly young, social and mobile market.