Tennis holiday entrepreneurs who won funding from Dragons’ Den will be courting more publicity later this month when they appear on BBC Two’s follow-up show Pitches to Riches.
Viewers will find out on December 30 how investment and guidance from ‘dragon’ Peter Jones helped the team at Active Away to increase annual turnover by 74% to more than £1 million.
The operator, a member of the Travel Trust Association, was founded in 2006 by Steve Davies, who was supported by his friend Matt Allen. They were joined in 2014 by tennis coach Josh Thompson, who is now sales director.
In December 2016, Jones invested £20,000 in Active Away in return for a 20% stake, which dropped down to 15% when he received his initial investment back.
“Active Away didn’t actually need the cash injection; we were looking for guidance from Peter,” said Davies.
“Since the show, Peter and his team have been influential in developing the business. Peter provided us an office overlooking Queen’s Club in London. It has been fantastic to have a central London base.”
A former tennis coach, Jones also helped Active Away to launch its corporate arm.
Since appearing on Dragons’ Den in 2016, the company has grown from a team of four to six full-time staff and four part-time contractors.
Resorts featured by the company increased from 13 to 25, while the number of coaches rose from 22 to 52 and the annual number of bookings more than doubled to 1,370.
Turnover soared from £645,000 to £1.1 million and profit has gone up six-fold, from £20,000 to a projected £120,000 in 2018.
The company joined The Travel Network Group as a Travel Trust Association member in 2017.
“Originally, we just thought it was a great way of adding an extra layer of security for our clients,” said Davies.
“Since then we’ve had numerous ideas from various elements of what they offer. We’ve had some great feedback on our website and marketing, as well as their video team creating a whole series of videos for us. They’ve been fantastic.”
Filming of Pitches to Riches took place at the launch of the firm’s corporate tennis events business, with the chance for Davies and Allen to play a doubles match with Jones and his son Will.
Davies attributes the company’s success to its “traditional” way of doing business, with personal attention, word-of-mouth recommendations and positive feedback.
“We’ve recognised from the feedback we’ve had from our clients that they love the personal aspect of what we do,” said Davies.