Entrepreneurial journeys: Craig Geddes

The great outdoors has always been a passion for Craig Geddes. Having grown up with a father in the Royal Navy, Craig spent his youth moving from place to place. Two stand-out regions were Scotland and God’s Own Country, Yorkshire, where he resides and runs The Outdoors People today.

The Outdoors People is a Community Interest Company (CIC) that brings outdoor education and camping experiences to primary schools. As a CIC, The Outdoors People exists to run for the benefit of the community, rather than shareholders. Programmes take place throughout the spring, summer and early autumn, giving young children the chance to take part in activities such as canoeing and climbing.

Craig founded the company in 2017 and made the decision to go not-for-profit in 2021. This has contributed significantly to The Outdoors People’s growth plans. The brand has grown from running camps for 1,000 students in year one to 4,000 students today.

Craig's Journey

“When I was growing up, we would often go sailing or out walking in the hills. It was a part of life and my passion. I didn’t drive and spent most of my time in the Yorkshire Dales, commuting to work by walking up Malham Cove.”

Craig doesn’t have a traditional ‘academic’ background. After trying his hand at A-Level Graphic Design, he decided he wanted to take a different route, and took on a kitchen assistant role at the National Trust. It was here that a colleague would leave a college prospectus out one fateful day – advertising a BTEC in outdoor sports.

“Outdoor work is based around vocational qualifications,” says Craig. He began the BTEC course at Craven College and took on part-time jobs to pay for training. While he ultimately didn’t complete the course, it did give him the perfect foundations for entrepreneurship in the field.

After a colourful freelance career including sledding with Huskies in Iceland and roaming the deserts of Ras Al Khaimah, Craig was offered an opportunity.

“I began freelancing in 2011. I’d been helping one company design and expand their products. When they went out of business, they offered me their existing customers. By 2017, I had founded The Outdoors People.” 

The Outdoors People Today

With 20 years’ experience under his belt, Craig was the perfect candidate to lead The Outdoors People. Today, the team comprises three full-time staff and 90 freelancers, each of whom has their own specialist skills in outdoor pursuits. Many are also multilingual, which will aid Craig’s long-term ambitions of expanding into Western and Southern Europe.

Today, the company serves schools throughout the UK, working with approximately 80 per year. The Outdoors People have already booked up 84 schools for a bumper calendar of 2024 events – a testament to their reputation, as many enquiries come through word of mouth.

“There are infinite growth opportunities,” says Craig, who has already set up for expansion into Europe. “There are 17,000 primary schools in England.” At present, the company works with a range of private and state schools, ensuring every child has access to activities, regardless of their financial background. Craig partly credits this substantial growth to being a CIC. “Our original plan was to become a CIC in 2020, but the pandemic had a devastating effect. We saw other companies go out of business, but for us, our CIC status played a huge part in that recovery.”

Looking ahead to 2024, The Outdoors People is a world away from those turbulent times. For Craig, the biggest reward is giving pupils of all backgrounds access to these opportunities. He recalls: “In 2021, when we were just getting back on our feet after Covid, a group of pupils got together and made us a thank you card, completely unprompted. We’d been working with new teams and getting back to it after a very stressful year. It was a lovely reminder of why we do it.”

Challenges

While Craig admits that staffing will always be challenging, the biggest setback for The Outdoors People was indisputably the pandemic. He says: “Including government grants, we only made 4% of our projected turnover in 2020. One estimate suggested the industry was losing 12,000 people per night.

“But we stuck to our word. We honoured all payments and rescheduled events for 2021. We maintain great relationships with the kids and their parents, many of whom enrol all of their children in our camps.” This outstanding customer service is echoed in the company’s testimonials. One teacher commented: “We simply wanted the children to have fun and socialise after a truly horrendous 18 months, but they got so much more out of it!”

A personal challenge for Craig, like any business owner, is taking time off. “You tend to work too many hours when you’re setting up a business. I was just getting everything under control and then the pandemic hit. I’d be sending emails at all hours during lockdowns. Having essentially worked for five years without time off, I’m now re-learning self-care. All of our staff have a generous holiday allowance, and I’m making sure I use mine!”

Words of advice

Craig cites Andy Godfrey and Clive Nutton as his business inspirations, with whom he worked freelance at the not-for-profit co-operative Lupine Adventure. Here he learned the true benefits of a people-first working culture, and he regularly encourages his staff to unionise. He’s also focusing on his work/life balance, and admits it’s “hard to be a boss to yourself”.

Beyond staff motivation, Craig has learnt a lot about the legalities of outdoor adventure education. He says: “I realised there’s no list of all the legal obligations you have. You tend to only find out when a government agency sends you a letter – so good practice is to phone these agencies up and apologise!”

The Outdoors People continues to go from strength to strength with its growth plans for international schools in Europe. Bookings are now being taken for 2024 and can be made through The Outdoors People website.

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