History

The concept of a small, staff friendly company was spawned in 1994 by Peter Harvey while in the Alps mountaineering with a friend.

The motivation came from several directions, not least his experience in Botswana, in Canada working at an outdoor education centre, Strathcona Park Lodge and with Outward Bound in Wales. However the driving force was to see if his idea of a staff-focused business would keep the team enthused and pay the salaries. The concept was that good staff who are well motivated increase the amount of repeat business. This would enable marketing costs to be kept low and therefore the saving here could be invested in staff salaries.

Having worked for several large organisations Peter felt that despite the tight margins in which the industry operated optimised systems and good management could turn a profit. Therefore the primary ethos was to support staff and ensure that everyone remained motivated. Motivated staff would mean that customers were happy, staff felt valued and rewarded and would be keen to continue to work with us.

The company has been guided in recent years by Richard Mayon-White's energy and vision. He joined Peter back in 2003 and took on the managing Director role. Richard has focussed on developing the individual business managers within the ECG group.

The ethos of the company has stayed constant throughout the years. We have remained staff focused and continue to work closely with clients designing bespoke quality programmes to meet their needs. We have grown beyond expectations in four core business fields, youth development in the UK, world-wide youth development expeditions, corporate training, adult training, adult ventures and medical training.

From the initial start up in Southampton in 1995 we have been able to control growth and an element of sanity. The organic growth has kept financial pressures away and the company moved to Wellington College in December 1996 and then to our own dedicated premises in Bramley, Hampshire, in December 2010.

The company has evolved and expanded over the years. We can look back over the previous years at decisions that could have been better made! However we are well placed for the future and continue to learn and grow.