Taking Initiative

Nicole Robinson, andbeyond's chief marketing officer, shares how the luxury safari operator is accelerating its ground partnerships in a race against time to save the planet's remaining wilderness.

- GRACE MA

Nicole Robinson, and Beyond's chief marketing officer, has been with the luxury safari company for 24 years. Yes, twenty-four. One would almost expect a sense of jadedness by now, such is the typical profile of most who have been wearing the same shoes for over two decades.

But the enthusiasm in her voice hardly lets up throughout our hourlong chat about the 32-year-old company's work with the communities in which their 29 properties are situated.

She said: "At andbeyond, we look at financial and impact returns. It's not just about making a profit but also caring for the land, wildlife, and people, which is very important to us and makes it a really awesome place to work for. We don't leave because we feel a legacy will be left in our time that is more than making somebody else very, very wealthy."

CHANGE THAT LASTS 

When founder Dave Varty opened Phinda Private Game Reserve in 1991 — a profitable project only 20 years later — he saw the importance of engaging surrounding communities and harnessing international capital in a low-impact, high-yield tourism business model from the onset.

In 1992, he partnered with the nonprofit Africa Foundation to facilitate community-led initiatives to make wildlife conservation meaningful to the locals living within or near wildlife areas. Since then, it has added nongovernmental organisations such as Oceans without Borders, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Ashia Cheetah Sanctuary to its list of partners.

It may all sound like a marketing spiel, but Robinson doesn’t evade the difficult questions.