{"id":100650,"date":"2017-03-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelstartblg.wpenginepowered.com\/expresso-inside-mind-travelstart-risk-taker-stephan-ekbergh\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T13:54:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T13:54:06","slug":"expresso-inside-mind-travelstart-risk-taker-stephan-ekbergh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/expresso-inside-mind-travelstart-risk-taker-stephan-ekbergh\/","title":{"rendered":"STEPHAN EKBERGH VISITS EXPRESSO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday morning marked Travelstart’s second visit to our new partners at the\u00a0Expresso Show.<\/h1>\n

Our CEO Stephen Ekbergh chatted to presenter Graeme Richards live on SABC 3 and gave South Africans insights on the secrets behind Travelstart\u2019s success in Africa and the Middle East.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After 11 failed attempts Travelstart\u2019s CEO Stephan struck gold, enthralled the ecommerce world with the founding of what would be labelled the biggest online travel agency in Africa. 1999 saw a humble start for Travelstart as Stephan ran the agency from his home town in an old coffee roastery in the streets of Malm\u00f6, Sweden. While slow in its infant stages, and operating with little to no provision of capital, perseverance prevailed and so Sweden\u2019s first online travel agency was born.<\/p>\n

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The Risk Factor<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While Travelstart was breaking new ground in Sweden, Stephen no longer felt the same affection for Sweden, not since he discovered South Africa in the 80\u2019s, and so the decision was made to uproot Travelstart and set up shop in South Africa. This did not come without the obvious risks involved with moving a business from a developed market to South Africa, a considerably more complicated emerging market.<\/p>\n

The decision to move Travelstart to South Africa was in fact an ironic decision in itself, \u201cIn a way a stupid idea, because why would anybody want to leave South Africa? We\u2019re selling destinations yet we get to live in the best place in the world,\u201d comments Stephan.<\/p>\n

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Transformation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Stephan has always been of the belief that the people of Africa have such a strong entrepreneurial spirit and are innately driven. Although the move to Africa was deemed high risk, with the correct approach Travelstart would beat the odds.<\/p>\n

Stephan remarks, \u201cI considered the travel industry in Africa very broken. It\u2019s often run by mom and pop shops. What we saw in Sweden was that through technology and through proper training we actually professionalised not only our company, but the whole industry as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travelstart has transformed immensely since its inception in Sweden. It would be impossible to attribute the company\u2019s successes to one single reason, however Stephen unpacks the reasons that have been and still remain at the core of everything we do at Travelstart:<\/p>\n