Power of Play
Power of Play
Learn About Giving Back While Traveling with Aaron Sapra from ME to WE
Amanda is joined this week by Aaron Sapra, Director of Global Partnerships for the social enterprise ME to WE. ME to WE works to provide a sustainable source of funding for WE Charity by working with communities to harness their specific local abilities. ME to WE currently has travel operations based in Kenya, Northwestern India, and in the Amazon rainforest.
Working out of their three operational bases, ME to WE offers top-notch lodging for their guests nestled within local communities. These lodges are used as a platform to introduce guests to locals and allow them to unplug, reconnecting with themselves and others.
At any given moment, ME to WE has about 250 corporate partners, offering travel for groups as small as 3 or 4 individuals all the way up to large groups of 80 or more. Everyone in the group participates in three main activities on a trip: an opportunity to contribute to the local community, an adventure or discovery activity with locals, and activity specific to the goal of their itinerary.
ME to WE doesn’t only offer corporate retreats. They have youth solo travel and family trips as well. Kids as young as 13 can join trips where they contribute to local communities and learn leadership skills, all under the watchful eye of ME to WE employees. Families are also welcomed to schedule a trip with their kids of any age. These family trips have no set date of departure and consist of the three main activities in ME to WE’s corporate and youth trips, giving families time to unplug and reconnect with each other.
Check out ME to WE online at https://www.metowe.com/
Check out Largay Travel at https://www.pleasegoaway.com/
Connect with Kelly
Email - kelly@theentreprenewer.com
Website - https://www.theentreprenewer.com
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Email - amanda@largaytravel.com
Website - www.pleasegoaway.com
Schedule a complimentary 15-minute Travel Specialist Consultation - www.pleasegoaway.com
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Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/virtuosotraveladvisor/?hl=en
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-klimak/
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Speaker 2:[inaudible]
Speaker 3:today's guest and topic is one that I absolutely love because this topic and this company that we're going to be welcoming to the show is one that does a lot of great things around the world. Sustainability, philanthropic work is what this company is all about. And our guest from this company is actually someone who is beating me in the number of countries that he has visited. So I have to get busy because he's at number 53 and I think I'm around 40 something so I'm going to need to get busy. But anyway, is this the director of global travel partnerships from me to we Aaron Safra, welcome to the show. Thanks so much Amanda. It's a pleasure to be here with you. Great. So on our please go away. Podcasts, I know we talked a lot about children or trips that are for kids who want to go away and then you also have your family journeys. But today I wanted to talk a little bit about your corporate partnerships as well as your executive retreats. Cause I know we have a lot of entrepreneurs who want to get away. They want to have a trip that's exciting, but they also want to give back to the communities and the places they visit. Talk to me about what you, what you offered.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Thanks so much for the introduction Amanda. And again, thank you for having me today. So I'm to give a bit of a background on what me to we is, we're a social enterprise so we exist for the sole purpose of being able to support our charity partner, we charity by helping minimize the operational and financial burdens that they face as a charity. So our founders about eight years after starting the charity founded me. We as a social enterprise and we do two things in the social enterprise. We work with local communities to harness the power of what they do locally. So in some cases in South America that's working with cacao and coffee farmers. And then we manufacture the finished product that we then retail across the North America or working with local mamas who have a beating tradition that's been passed down and we manufacture jewelry with them and retail that as well. But what I'm here to talk to you about today is the travel operations. So we own operate three lodges around the world in Kenya, in the mass Amara, in Northwestern India, in the Arab belly mountains, and in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador. And these lodges are nestled right near the communities that we work alongside and who were, have helped break the generational cycle of poverty. And we use these lodges as a platform to introduce our guests and our travelers and our corporate partners to the local communities that we work alongside every day. And we do that in a variety of different culturally relevant and really authentic and organic experiences. And it allows people to go away, to unplug, to connect with each other, reconnect with themselves, and reconnect with the planet and the people that inhabit these far-flung that we have such a rare opportunity to communicate and connect with. Wow. And generally speaking, how many people do you host on one of your retreats? Are they small groups, large groups? What does that look like? Yeah, it really depends on our corporate partners. So we have about 250 corporate partners at any given moment. And some of them range from small executive retreats at the very senior C-suite level where you know, only people with an officer title are going to come away. So four or five, six people. And we've got some of our larger partners, one of our very large accounting partners brings 80 people away at a time and it's an annual trip or we've got a banking partner that brings two groups of 50 and then they cross over for one day as one is going in and one is going out. So, depending on the lodge property that we're hosting people out, it can be as small as two, three, four people and all the way up to 80 85 people. Wow. And what did the activities look like? What do you do? How does it work? Yeah, great question. So all of our trips, regardless of the segment that we're working with, is, are always going to include three components. So the first of which is what we call an opportunity to contribute. And this is where people as a group get a chance to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, and after we've introduced them to the community and the work that we're doing, give them a chance to participate firsthand. So in Kenya we started the, we college after we built a number of different primary and secondary schools, we opened up a postsecondary institution in the mass Amara. That means that people are going to stay there after they're completed their education and continue the work. So it's the largest infrastructure project we've ever done and people are invited to participate to open up the fifth, sixth and seventh faculties that we're currently working on in Ecuador. A clean source of water in the Amazon is a major, major issue. So we're constantly bringing new sources of water. And in India it's often around medical facilities. So we give people the opportunity to play a role in the community's development, but we really do that not because we need their assistance in moving the projects forward, but as a way to break down the inequality that often exists between affluent Western travelers and local community members in developing countries. I'm sure some of your guests or some of your audience, I should say, has maybe experienced that themselves and they, they're looking for an authentic experience but not sure where to find it. Yes. So that's why we use those kinds of activities is to help break down that barrier. And then our community members open up their lives and their villages and their communities and their home or their, their stories, their personal stories to our travelers. Um, so they can begin to learn from each other. And then ultimately we want people to be up and active and really involved in the local area. So we mixed in a number of different adventure and fun and discovery like activities that are culturally relevant. So that could be mass warrior training from a real mass high warrior in the middle of the Mara. It could be being fitted for a sari or occur to while you're learning Hindi lessons and participating in Bollywood dancing and a cooking class so you can go home and know how to make your own simosas and butter chicken when you get home or an Ecuador. It's, it's venturing deep into the jungle and making your own chocolate and learning where cacau comes from and then venturing further and participating in a weaponry training session to understand how they've caught moving food for hundreds and for thousands of years. And we mix these all together. And then for our corporate audiences, what we do is we really understand their motivations for going. Are you looking to inspire creativity? Are you looking to build teamwork amongst your team? Is this a reward trip for a job really, really well done over the past year. And then we'll work really closely with their travel advisor and with them, their primary point person to design an itinerary that exactly meets their mission statements, their goals. So when those employees come back, they're rested and they're relaxed, but they're engaged in the organization that they work for. So it's really, really customizable.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And what I love about that is the comradery that's created and the energy that's created where the last exciting thing that happened last week was they bumped in the water cooler versus you were in Kenya with a Maasai village and everybody was learning weapons training. There's a big difference in that comradery when you have these amazing experiences to share with one another.
Speaker 4:There absolutely is. And as we all know who had been on corporate retreats and business trips of some sort that often the most social parts are over a glass of wine sometimes. And, and I don't want people to think that when they go on this trip, it's, you know, 12 hours a day of, of moving things around. Um, when the day is done, we retire back to our exquisite lodge properties to watch the sunset over these incredible locales. Um, and we do it over fine wine and we do it with, with spirits in hand. And then we get to share meals together. So the bonding is not kind of broken into activities or set aside for time. The bonding starts from the first thing in the morning, if it's yoga in India or a warrior walk in Africa, um, and continues until they put their head back down in the pillow that night. And it continues day after day after day. So yeah, when they come back, the team building that's taken place and the bonds that have taken place between each other and their organization is, is unparalleled. It's a map.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's excellent. And what I love, we so often get requests, especially from corporations and owners of corporations, when they have somebody who's coming up on a 10 year anniversary or 20 years or 25 years, you know, do they give the gift of money or did they give the gift of an amazing life experience? And so oftentimes, whether it's a virtuous, a wanderlust where we're planning their lifetime of travel or they're giving them the gift of travel, I think this turns into something so much more valuable in the grand scheme of things. Then the actual cost of the trip. So how does that work? Do you guys have programs where corporations wanted to gift travel to their executives or how does that work?
Speaker 4:So we've got, um, a lot of the people that travel with us are in actively engaged with our organizations through their, as the corporation in some way. But we have dozens of companies who are not necessarily engaged with us in the rest of our charity work, but just simply want to travel with us so they can, I would always recommend they speak with their travel advisor and we'll work very closely, you know, as a, as a a three point team, um, between us, their advisor and their organization to build out that perfect, perfect trip for them and customize to meet exactly what it needs. The other thing I would add in is that sometimes people thinks it's a trip like this or it's a more traditional experience at some other time, and this year I'm going to give them the more traditional experience and we'll look at something like this and in the years to come, clients can have the best of both worlds through their travel advisor. Oftentimes organizations will choose to travel with me to we and spend four or five days with us and have this, you know, this is where they're actually going to do their brainstorming where they're team building or whatever it is that they really want to accomplish. And then we'll mix that with a more traditional experience so they can still enjoy the Galapagos islands or the Inca trail symmetric Picchu, or to venture out on a Safari for a few days or go see the golden triangle and visit the Taj Mahal. It's not an either or choice anymore. In a world of travel, we combine all of these experiences into one seamless experience. And again, that's what, that's the power of working with an advisor is that this can all be done for you with partners like us.
Speaker 3:Awesome. I love it. Well, I would be remiss if I did not mention your other programs because I think you know, as much as we focus on business travel, corporate travel, executive travel, our families are what it's all about. I mean, let's be realistic about that. So I know you have programs where if parents wanted to send their kids on their own on one of your trips, that's possible. Talk to me a little bit about that.
Speaker 4:Sure. So we were actually founded as a youth travel organization. Our founder was 12 years old when he founded our organization 25 years ago. So we began working with young people from literally day one. So about 20 years ago we began to bring hundreds of youth overseas to our first projects in Africa and Kenya because they wanted to, to play a role firsthand and see firsthand the work that we were doing. So those trips are, there obviously is no fine wine at the end of the day. On those trips. Instead of that, we actually replaced that with leadership training at the end. So a lot of these kids are already breaking away from the pack just by the motivation of wanting to do a trip like this. So what we do is we provide them with the tools that they need to go home and take those actions in their local communities on a global level, but also give them things like leadership with humility and how do you break away from the pack and be a leader but not alienate those around you. And then by day, a lot of the work that we're doing or the activities that I've already mentioned, the mass eye warrior training and the weaponry training, but they're spending a good amount of time on our build sites really contributing to work that we're doing. So we've segmented those into travel experiences for those as young as 13 and we break that up to the age of 18 and then for the older crowd from 18 to about 22 2324 the postsecondary crowd, we've got trips that are more aligned and designed with them. So things like pre-medical trips, women's empowerment trips, Tanzania and warrior adventures, and you name it, everything in between. They're under our custody and our custodial guidance from the time that they get dropped off at their local airport out to the time that we bring them back home. They're never on their own. As we started as a youth travel organization, safety and security is the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth priority for us along the way. So people can feel confident that they're traveling with an organization that's out there doing good. The only reason we exist, and they're doing it in a really, really safe and secure
Speaker 3:well in the fact that you've done this for over 20 years, he leads me to believe you've seen every scenario in dealt with every kid.
Speaker 4:It[inaudible] arising out that didn't arise, you know, that we wouldn't have thought of 2025 years ago. The preponderance of needing to have an EpiPen on hand at all times, making sure that that knots are nowhere to be found, you know, in our meals and things like that. So as tastes in the world, changes amongst youth. We're right there alongside it, changing along with it.
Speaker 3:Awesome. And then just one quick blurb about your family programs. Cause I know that that is something that you also do and I know for myself, you know, I always, my travel with my family is the most important time of the year. So I spend a lot of time really thinking about what's going to be a great trip. And this to me is amazing. Talk about those really quickly.
Speaker 4:Sure. So yeah, our family programs really were formed because of the popularity of our youth trips in our early days and kids were coming home so enthusiastic and really a lot of them had their lives changed and the parents said, well we got to see this power for ourselves too and want to go as a family. And you know, our eight year old may be too young to go on this trip and we don't want to wait six years. So let's go as a family together. So very similar to our corporate trips into our youth trips. We have the three components, the opportunity to contribute and the community and cultural immersion in the fond and discovery and adventure along the way. It's just more designed for family units. So we don't have departure dates. We really run our programs every single week. So if someone needs to come in on a Wednesday and stay with us to a Sunday, then we make that work. What's really amazing is that we're in pretty rural areas of these developing countries. So why Phi is not like it is at home. Connectivity to the internet is not like it is at home so it's a bit nerve wracking even on the first day. But people then kind of see their phones and their tablets melt away and they reconnect with each other as a family. They get to participate in activities together and laugh together again as a family. In fact, the founder of virtuoso joined with us a couple of years ago and he said that, you know is a very high stress time for him. And he said, you know, I wanted to join this trip cause I wanted to break away from my business and just be with my family and what it did for him. And he says this all the time is that it actually rekindled his love and his desire of travel and remembered what travel is all about while connecting with his, with his Boyson and his wife at the same time. So for families who are looking for something a little bit different, you know, that are well traveled and, and, and want to see a part of the world that was once stricken by poverty that is now flourishing and get really, really up close and personal with those people and do it in a safe way and have some fun along the way as well. Then that's where[inaudible] comes in. And again, we can couple this with those more traditional experiences so they can have the best of both worlds. I'm on the trip,
Speaker 3:Aaron, thank you so much. This was so wonderful and I just, I love what you're doing. I love the work you do, but I love that you're connecting people and taking them from their everyday life into something that is different and helps them to learn and reconnect and connect with somebody they may never have met otherwise. Thank you so much. Thank you, man. It was a pleasure being with you today.
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