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Aussie owned adventure travel provider, the Intrepid Group has been named amongst the world’s 50 most innovative by Fast Company’s reputable annual list.http://www.stevecafeandcuisine.com/

The list puts Intrepid alongside Shopify, Alibaba Group, Virgin Galactic, Twitch, GJS Robot and Cloudflare amongst others. Intrepid is one of only three Aussie companies who made the coveted list. Last year’s winners included Apple, Netflix and Amazon.

Intrepid Group were credited for their “purpose beyond profit” by fighting over-tourism in popular destinations and curbing the environmental footprint of its tours.

“Being recognised for our purpose-led efforts by Fast Company is an incredible honour, and it’s our hope that the work we’re doing will be a catalyst for other global travel companies to look towards putting people and the planet before their bottom line,” says James Thornton, Intrepid Group CEO.

So what specifically goes on at one of Australia’s most innovative companies? We round-up five things the average Aussie might not know about our home grown business success story:

  1. They’ve over-achieved on diversity goals: Intrepid has already achieved their 2020 gender equality goals to double female tour leaders across the globe – no mean feat in developing countries where it’s rare to see women in these roles. More than 1,800 office-based staff and tour leaders at Intrepid are made up of 68 different nationalities, are a mix of races, cultures, sexual orientations and religions. They have just welcomed their first transgender tour leader in Thailand.

  2. They put their money where their mouth is when it comes to the environment: In 2014, the adventure travel company proudly became the first business to ban elephant rides. Since then, over 100 tour operators and companies within the industry have followed suit. The adventure tour company are advocates for responsible travel, encouraging travellers to leave behind only their footprints and minimising plastic waste where possible. Intrepid’s own offices help to preserve the environment with their energy conservation initiatives, waste management principles and water saving initiatives. The company has also been carbon neutral for eight years, offsetting over 290,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from their trips and offices worldwide.

  3. They’re Australia’s largest B Corporation: In 2018, the Group became Australia’s largest and first global travel B-Corp certified company. By obtaining a B-Corp status it means that a company looks after their staff, maintain a clean supply chain and take the matter of corporate social responsibility seriously. To achieve B-Corp certification, Intrepid Group now offer three weeks paid parental leave for all staff around the world, reviewed suppliers and measure success more holistically in their ‘integrated annual reports’.

  4. They’re a cool place to work: Not surprisingly, staff across the Group have ample opportunities to travel and be part of worthwhile causes through The Intrepid Foundation. Their in-house content team travel the globe producing award winning mini-documentaries on topics like wildlife exploitation and inspiring travel features in destinations from Antarctica to Africa. The company offers profit sharing to staff and recently introduced a Reconciliation Action Plan stating they now actively partner with more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

  5. Their trips are out of the ordinary: The small group tours they sell are also creative in their own right. Recently, they’ve launched tours specifically for single parent families, women’s only expeditions to the Middle East and vegan tours of India, Thailand and Italy.