Social Cycles are a tour de force. Aside from organising exhilarating and life changing adventures for their customers, Social Cycles also give back to every community where they leave a footprint (or a bicycle trail). Social Cycles guide cycling tours through Cambodia, Vietnam and Iran, alongside day tours around Melbourne. With a strong focus on doing good, every tour visits a number of NGOs en route that Social Cycles backs.
Wherever possible, Social Cycles support social enterprises and small businesses such as local restaurants and guesthouses to ensure that their tourist bucks are going straight back into a sustainable market.
Through their motto ‘Ride With Purpose’, Social Cycles give the cyclists who join their tours an adventure cycling holiday with depth.
“Brett came in with significant management experience, but more importantly he had actually cycled through several countries and spent time in communities. He understood that ‘making a difference’ is contextual and it’s about respecting and understanding the local context while leveraging the local expertise”
– Ishani, Head of Programs at TDi (2016)
In a world where Voluntourism is on the rise, the challenge for Social Cycles has been to generate trust with their customers. Trust that their involvement with NGOs and charities in developing countries is genuine, sustainable and not detrimental to the local community. Social Cycles have embedded this challenge into their business philosophy, they believe in learning from local experts to create positive impact in the communities. They do this by supporting “transparent, ethical, sustainable and community based projects”.
In order to ground their purpose, Social Cycles are active supporters of ChildSafe, the International Friends campaign that aims to warn of the hidden risks of visiting children in third world orphanages. As part of their child protection policy, Social Cycles do not take their tour groups to orphanages, schools or NGOs where children could be exploited.
“The key benefit of the Two Feet program is having someone to challenge you, family and friends are supportive, but they tend to shy away from offering critical advice”
– Brett Seychell, Founder at Social Cycles
Social Cycles are an enterprise from TDi’s first Melbourne Two Feet program cohort. They will be graduating in November 2016 at the Dragons’ Den event along with thirty-six other successful Two Feeters from around Australia.
The key benefit of the Two Feet program is “having someone to challenge you” says founder Brett Seychell, “family and friends are supportive, but they tend to shy away from offering critical advice”. Through the mentoring offered in the Two Feet program, Social Cycles were able to refine their mission while still maintaining their vision.
The TDi team pose the difficult questions, such as ‘who is your customer?’ and ‘what is your intent?’ In addition to posing these questions, TDi have also guided Social Cycles through the process of finding greater clarity. Social Cycles’ journey through the Two Feet program has really been focused on understanding and articulating their customer segments and developing a clear value proposition.
What could be better than seeing the world, and doing good at the same time?
Check out Social Cycles here