The Returns From Travels

The mainstream benefits of travel are well-understood. Let’s talk about how travel is especially important for entrepreneurs.

- Rajmohan Krishnan

In the 13th century, a young Marco Polo embarked on a voyage in search of adventure and trade. That voyage redrew the world map and became an enduring source of inspiration for generations of entrepreneurs. Polo served the great Mongol emperor Kublai Khan for 17 years and returned to Venice 26 years after his departure. His memoirs – embellished as they were – served Europe’s growing appetite for innovation, and no doubt, helped that continent spread its wings to every corner of the world.

No traveller is an island. If anything, a traveller is like an estuary that connects his homeland and the land he visits. He becomes the carrier of ideas from one to the other. Thanks to travellers, the human species has managed to amass a certain amount of homogeneity despite great cultural and political differences between civilizations.

In a globalised world, when most ideas travel instantaneously using technology, we might assume that the modern entrepreneur needn’t travel anymore to seek inspiration and opportunities. That would be an incorrect assumption. The human mind still remains the strongest carrier of ideas and experiences. An entrepreneur needs to feel the power of an idea in its birthplace. By immersing herself in such an experience, they will be infected by the enthusiasm required to graft a business idea into a new milieu.

Broadly speaking, here are the primary reasons to consider travel as an investment.

1. Opportunities present themselves