SA startup Good Scout Travel Company helps users find and plan accessible experiences

A passion to help people living with a disability access adventure experiences and plan travel has seen Clair Crowley, founder of The Good Scout Travel Company, pick up the Golden eNVIe at this year’s annual awards.

Crowley was one of six finalists to vie for the top honour at a special ceremony at Flinders University’s New Venture Institute.

The eNVIe awards are a graduation celebration and competition for the New Venture Institute’s ‘Venture Dorm’ entrepreneur development program. Finalists pitch their ideas as a culmination of twelve weeks of practical learning with personalised mentors.

Crowley was inspired to create The Good Scout Travel Company after a snowboarding accident left her husband a paraplegic. Her first-hand experience of the frustrations her partner had in finding accessible travel and adventure experiences, led Crowley on a crusade to create the online platform, which lets consumers plan travel experiences with a focus on accessibility.

“One of the things we as a family always look at when booking travel and accommodation is not the pool, but the bathrooms, for accessibility,” Crowley says.

“So I knew the why of my startup, but not the how. I’ve been dabbling in the space for a while but not really known how to create the value. Through Venture Dorm I was able to put the end-user at the centre to create value and use a data-driven approach to develop a sustainable model.”

The Good Scout Travel Company is one of 19 startups out of the current round of Flinders’ NVI Venture Dorm program. Crowley came to the program through the SPARK Adelaide scheme, funded by Renewal SA and through Hub Adelaide.

Venture Dorm helps new businesses start up fast with a low upfront investment, and supports them beyond the 12-week immersive program to continue to grow and mature through Flinders’ NVI’s co-working space that provides access to a multitude of valuable business and entrepreneurial services.

Flinders University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Colin Stirling, congratulated Crowley on her win, acknowledging the high level of quality contestants in the competition.

“The eNVIes are going from strength to strength and each of these awards is as diverse as our University itself, and as unique as the people who venture through our doors,” Professor Stirling says.

“Our team at Flinders is absolutely passionate about pushing the boundaries of what is possible, but we can only be as good as the partners and the people we work with – and the quality of competitors tonight demonstrates just how exceptional that standard can be.”