A few years back, actually in 2012, I was fortunate enough to be able to join Virgin Media, and Sir Richard Branson on a trade mission to India from the UK. I’ve never really documented that journey, however it has shaped a lot of what I do now, so I thought this would be the perfect place to share the story of how the opportunity came along, my time on the trip, and how it has shaped everything I do now business wise. I hope you can take something away from this, and enjoy my very first post on SteemIt after a few days of commenting on others!

What Was The Purpose Of The Trip?

Lets jump straight in! So i’m guessing right now you might be thinking; well what was the purpose of the trip, and how did it actually come along? Well let me go over that for you right now.

So Virgin Media run a site called Virgin Media Pioneers, which is basically an online community to help encourage, and support entrepreneurs in the UK. It’s through this site the actual opportunity to join Sir Richard Branson on a trade mission to India came along.

The trade mission to India, as it was labelled, was during the same time as Virgin Atlantic launched their new direct route from London to Mumbai (I think I saw it reported that they’ve since stopped the route as it wasn’t profitable - don’t hold me to that!). So the trip was essentially a double celebration, launching the new flight route, and helping a group of young business owners experience business in an emerging market.

So that was the aim, or lets call it the goal of the trip. To help a group of young UK business owners experience business in an emerging market, which was India, and help them make connections there. I’ll get into the nitty gritty of the trip in just a moment! Just so you’re aware the business I was running at the time (no longer run this business) was an Indian food business.

How Did You Come Across This Opportunity?

By the way, it wasn’t just me that went on this amazing trip. There were a total of five people were selected, in part by the Virgin Media Pioneers community through an open vote on the site, and Virgin Media Pioneers own panel. That’s basically how the application process was structured (the post is still live on the site: https://pioneers.virginmedia.com/t5/Advice/Winners-of-Win-a-trip-to-India-with-Richard-Branson-competition/ba-p/542).

Initially, anyone could email in as to why this trip would benefit them and their business, that was then shortlisted down by the Virgin Media Pioneers panel to a select number of people, who were then published on the Virgin Media Pioneers site, and then the five with the most votes got to be apart of the brilliant trip. So that’s how I got onto this great business trip. Lets move onto the most interesting part now, which was my time on trip!

What Did You Do On The Trade Mission?

Right now I’m wishing I had kept a copy of the itinerary, as it was a jam packed few days. It would’ve been a really interesting insight into each day for you. However, I have a pretty good memory of the trip, as you would do, so I’ll write from that.

So the first day of course we had to fly out to India, and our flights were from Heathrow. It was a night flight, and we were in either premium economy, or business class. I’m not sure what the actual class was, but it was either one of them two with plenty of leg room. I’m 6ft 3in, and I had enough space - I normally have an issue with that on flights. By the way just so you’re aware, all of this was paid for by Virgin, we didn’t have to spare a penny!

Now you know I mentioned Mumbai earlier, right? Well, our flight out was to Delhi, not Mumbai. The reason for this was because we were invited to a reception at the British High Commissioners residence, which is of course in Delhi. So we landed in Delhi, went straight to our hotel (which was amazing), then within the hour we were back out to the reception. That’s where we first got to meet Sir Richard Branson, and hear him deliver a speech at the reception to all the delegates about expanding businesses into India.

So after that event, we went to visit a business was helps businesses outside of India enter the Indian market. It was very enlightening to hear about the struggles that businesses face on all fronts when entering the market, so people to learn about how it’s managed first hand by a team of experts was invaluable.

By the time that was wrapped up it was early evening, and later that evening there was a cocktail reception in the hotel hosted by Virgin. So back to the hotel we went, we had a little rest of an hour or so, then down to the cocktail reception. I have to admit, it was simply brilliant! Virgin really know how to throw an event.

It was actually at that cocktail reception the first time we got to meet Sir Richard Branson, which was absolutely incredible. I’m sure you can imagine how much of a busy individual he is running such a large organisation, but we got to have a sit down with him over some food and basically introduce ourselves as well as talk more about our visions. It’s a conversation I’ll always remember, and be grateful for!

I hope I’m not boring you, and rambling on too much. But lets forward to the next morning, and this this is when we flew out to Mumbai! Now I’m a huge Formula One fan, and it was the week of the Indian Grand Prix that week, and I managed to see some of the Ferrari team which was pretty cool! But lets get back to the point, as mentioned, we took an internal flight with Jet Airways from Delhi to Mumbai and flew economy with them.

Now one thing that really hit me with Mumbai, is just how close the really exclusive areas are to the poorer areas. I’ve seen that in many places, but the huge contrast in Mumbai surprised me a bit. But in Mumbai now, and this is where were spent the next few days. Once again visiting businesses that help ease the entry of companies into India, networking with others, and in general exploring everything the city had to offer. Amazing food. Amazing conversations. Amazing atmosphere. That really sums up my time in Mumbai.

Then after those days in Mumbai, we flew back on the very first Virgin Atlantic flight from Mumbai to Heathrow directly, with the then CEO of Virgin Atlantic. We were given Upper Class seats on the way back. I was 18 at the time, and that was the first time (hopefully not last) I’d flown upper class, it’s fair to say it was absolutely fantastic! I think everyone has to experience it at least once. So that was the trip! It was amazing!

What Lessons Did I Learn On The Trade Mission?

Now how did that trip help me on my entrepreneurial journey, did it even in fact help? The answer is a huge yes! It helped in a massive way.

Just so you’re aware, I no longer run the business I was running at the time. I don’t look at that as a failure, it was a huge learning experience for me. Because everything I learned from the trip, and the previous business was then applied to my current business which I launched shortly afterwards. Now with the business I currently run, my third largest market is India!

I’m far from being super successful or anything in that league, I don’t pretend to be, but that trip helped me understand the world is a lot smaller than it used to be. A hell of a lot smaller! No it hasn’t shrunk in size. It’s just we have so many tools available to use, which makes everything a lot easier, especially when it comes to building a business which has global reach from the get go. It doesn’t have to now be a second thought, or something that you’ll eventually do down the line, it can happen upon launch.

So the way the trip helped me apart from the motivational aspect of meeting a business hero of mine from a young age, it helped me realise in terms of setting up a business it can have an international reach from the get go. As well as that, learn to “fail” quick, and learn from that experience what you can and move onto the next thing and give it your all.

Now I know this was a pretty long post, I thank you hugely if you stuck with it and choose to comment. I do hope you got some value out of reading it.

I look forward to sharing some of my other business journey’s, and experience with you through other posts if it’s of interest to you and others. I’m sure I can perhaps provide some value to you, and the wider SteemIt community.

But other than that, I think we’re done. I look forward to being apart of this community, as a blogger and commenter. Once again, thank you for reading, I know it was a long post.