The Sheffield and Leeds members of the Connect Gazelles held a joint event at The Yorkshire Wildlife Park -The UK’s no 1 Walkthrough Wildlife Experience-on 15th June and I will report some of the highlights of their journey and at the end the lessons learnt. Cheryl Williams is one of our Entrepreneurs in Residence and she gave an inspiring talk for our members
From the Start
Trained at the Woburn Wildlife Park, Cheryl and Neville Williams opened YWP in 2009 and had 66,000 visitors in their first year. In 2015 they had 675,000 visitors and their target this year is 727,000 visitors. What an achievement
And more to come. They occupy 90 of the 300 acres of Brockoles Farm so have plenty of room to grow. They are aiming to go from 9th to 5th in the Top Zoos in the UK during 2017.
Welfare and conservation is what they are all about. It really got going with the rescue of 13 Lions from a run down Romanian Zoo in 2010, transported to Yorkshire by Jet2 and carefully brought back to good health by the team at YWP. The Lions are still the cornerstone of the Park but Polar Bears first arrived last year and they are planning for Black Rhinos next year
The Lessons Learnt
Maintain your quality whatever the cost-to YWP that means providing the very best environment and care for the animals.
Marketing is key-invest in this if you can afford it . You need to raise awareness and tell people who you are and what you do. Social media is cheap and very effective especially for a B2C business like YWP. TripAdvisor andFacebook give great feedback. They are now targeting businesses and have moved from local to national mainly through social media
As you grow the message must remain the same. As YWP strives to recruit commercial sponsors and expand its conferencing, it is not moving from its key mission.
YWP have set up a charity, The Yorkshire Wildlife Foundation, to help endangered species such as Polar Bears and Black Rhinos.
Conclusion
A fantastic trip combined with points to take home-which is what the Connect Gazelles are all about
