South Africa

Sports for all: it really works!

/ Yves / Leave a comment

A few weeks ago we marked another lifetime event in our young Herculean lives: the inaugural Hercules Trophy in New York was a big hit! Another proof that sports for all really works! We are now in Europe, Middle East, Africa and the US in only 2 years time.

305002_423650324358204_978859210_n[2]Fans from all over the world sent us very sweet personal messages saying they were amazed we pulled this off in only a few months time in one of the most difficult markets in the world. Even my mum was proud for a second Smile

Did we work hard? Oh yes! Is it hard to organize a good Hercules Trophy? Yeps, extremely. Did we have serious setbacks? Daily! Were we challenged by the Gods? O yeah baby. Do we have an awesome team? Yes we have (and Koen Blanquart: you are a rockstar!). Did we have amazing fans believing in us? Yes we did!

I’m always happy to be in the USA for a week. Especially in New York. So much energy, such an entrepreneurial spirit, such hard working people, so extremely hard to reach them, but once you get a chance to talk to them: they open their hearts and love to help you with your dream and make it their dream! In a few months time we made some “new best friends for ever”.

New York is one of those markets where business leaders understand why team sport is such a brilliant metaphor for everything that happens on the corporate work floor. That sport unites people. That sport doesn’t care about who you are. That you can do a lot of good through sports. That it’s a great networking opportunity. That you should bring supporters and kids to join you in all the fun. That it’s an investment and not a cost. In Dubai and Johannesburg we get the same messages. Wonder what the British did to get that message across. That’s probably one of the reasons why London was Olympic host for 3 times already.

A lot of of European business leaders still struggle with these statements, although we host more than 500 Hercules teams a year. In Europe, most people discovered corporate sports for individuals, but corporate teamsport is not generally accepted yet. Some still think that running the Ekiden with a few people or climbing the Mont Ventoux with colleagues is a team thing. No guys, these are corporate sporting events but they are not about teamwork, they are about individual achievements. Once you’ve participated in one of the Hercules Trophies, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Wonder if we will take a break now? Who needs sleep when you are having fun? We are in full preparation mode for 2013. Our US Managing Director is here with us to discuss the future, this week we are in Dubai for the launch, Inge is in India in 2 weeks and I will be in Australia shortly. In the meantime we are working on mind-blowing new plans for Belgium and we’ll soon launch the South African edition. Hope to see you there.

Sometimes a get a good feeling

/ Yves / Leave a comment

July 18th was one of those days I’ll never forget. It was one of those days that proves my mantra actually works. Thank you Gerry, Yvonne, Tom, Theo, Leigh, Tilana, the whole Dream Team,… thank you!

Look at the video below and understand why. We made this video during the inaugural Hercules Trophy on International Nelson Mandela Day. The Olympic Team of South Africa joined us. Goosebumps.

 

Mandela was in public service for 67 days. As you know, Nelson Mandela is our hero and we use one of his famous quotes to explain the power of Hercules Trophy: “Sport has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.” The Mandela Day campaign is calling on people around the world to commit 67 minutes of their time “to make an imprint and help change the world around them.”

The Herculix Foundation, powered by Hercules Trophy South Africa, donated sports gear to 6 underprivileged schools, donated 67.000 Rand to the good cause of the winning team, the Olympic athletes wrote inspirational quotes for the schools and inspired people that doing good can be fun! Imagine what we can do if we have between 500 and 700 teams like in Belgium!?! We hope to inspire all our fans all over the world to do the same.

How the hell did we end up here?

A few years ago I sent an SMS to Inge: “in 4 weeks we’re going on an economic mission to South Africa”. Her answer was a typical one: “owkay”. No questions asked. We share the same dream so no explanation needed.

On the flight to Johannesburg Inge told me: “Next is Dubai”. My answer was a typical one: “owkay” (and indeed it was…).

4 weeks later we had a meeting with Gerry Skerritt, one of the founders of The Dream Team in Johannesburg. It was our very first meeting in Johannesburg, initiated by Flanders Investment and Trade. We came out of that meeting and we immediately knew: these are the ones! During one week we checked out the main players on the market and our initial feeling was right.

We got to know the whole team over the years. What a team! One of the best I ever came across. Divers, passionate, positive, respectful, lots of fun, open, experienced, can do mentality… They didn’t go for Hercules Trophy unless everyone was convinced of the dream. It took some African Time though Smile, but everybody became really passionate about Hercules Trophy. Because make no mistake: if not everyone believes in the dream and focuses on it, it won’t happen no matter what you want!

Ups – downs – hopes – setbacks – worldcup in between – small successes… we experienced all the things that always happen in startups but we never stopped believing.

And then something magical happened: Yvonne joined the team. She was the missing link to bring us the network. You can have a dream and a focused team, but without fans you are nowhere. Teams joined because she said they had to join. People trust her and did it for her. As Yvonne has a long history at Virgin Atlantic, she knew exactly what we are all about and she knew exactly how to get that message across.

The inaugural Hercules Trophy in South Africa was the best ever. Spot on. A massive success. No doubt in my mind that Africa is going to be huge in the years to come. Every single team was inspired and will be back next year with more teams. I’m 300% convinced they will spread the word. In fact, the first teams subscribed the day after!

So you see, going global is really easy Smile