Animal Farm and Nature Reserve has won a £2000-award from Big Up Small Business as part of a business improvement programme. The nature attraction and venue in Hanover, Jamaica offers walking trails, bird watching, events and eco-cottages.
The competition is part of the wider Big Up Small Business charitable initiative, from the TUI Care Foundation and the Travel Foundation, which offers free training and resources to small tourism businesses to support recovery following the pandemic and to improve links to the international tourism market. Animal Farm and Nature Reserve is one of seven businesses selected by Big Up Small Business to benefit from bespoke support as part of a business booster programme.
“This competition was all about ensuring businesses know how to make the most of all routes to market,” said Jamaica Programme Officer for the Travel Foundation, Coral Purvil-Williams.
She added, “We are supporting the businesses that are part of our ‘booster programme’ to identify which third-party sellers to approach and how best to approach them. We were very impressed with the submission from Animal Farm, which identified shared values with a target company and showed a strong understanding of the benefits of a third-party selling relationship to both businesses Using a mixture of direct and indirect sales routes enables businesses to maximise the reach of their product to as many potential customers as possible.”
Owner of Animal Farm and Nature Reserve, Geoffrey Williams spoke of the significance of the award.
“While it is great to be the winner of this competition and to pocket the handsome prize money, participating in this and other competitions put on by the Big Up Small Business project has forced us to focus on proper business practices in both operational and promotional aspects. This is perhaps just as valuable as, if not more valuable than, the prize money,” he said.
Animal Farm and Nature Reserve plans to use the prize money to improve their walk-in aviary.
