| Cicada Resorts is not the first in the country avowing promotion of sustainable eco-tourism. But what sets it apart is that the man behind it, T G (Tiger) Ramesh, must be the only hi-flier from the world of IT, who has moved with his management and technology skills to set a new benchmark in eco-tourism. |
| Wilderness Resorts, the firm promoting Cicada, opened its first 20-room resort in the Kabini backwaters of Karnataka, next to the Nagarhole National Park, in September 2006. |
| The resort will become cash positive once occupancy crosses 60 per cent (it is currently doing 50) and the business will become fully profitable once it has 100 rooms spread over five resorts at 60 per cent occupancy. |
| "The model is absolutely viable provided you can have multiple resorts in multiple locations." Since operations are standardised, adding resorts helps spread out head office expenses. |
| Ramesh, who is CEO, says "I want to put in place systems and processes to build a scaleable model for eco-tourism that is totally corporate governance compliant. In the process we have accumulated as many as 28 permits from the government, including some unheard of ones." |
| For example, Cicada has a permit to use the river, and individual safety permits for each of the paddle boats and kayaks that it has imported. Officials say these are not really required, but Ramesh wanted them "" to be set standards and make his guests feel totally secure. |
| The resort also got the health department to certify its restaurants. It recycles its waste water, the plant certified by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. |
| The solid waste is segregated into organic and inorganic waste; the organic stuff goes into a local pit, the inorganic stuff is taken away and put into a deeper pit. |
| Cicada will have three more resorts in Karnataka "" Bandipur, Bhadra and BR Hills "" by 2007-08. In the subsequent phase it will acquire existing resorts or lease resorts and bring them under its umbrella. |
| Resorts will be 10-25 rooms each, in the vicinity of national parks that are home to Project Tiger. The firm has plans to run 15 properties in places like Corbett, Kanha, Ranthambore, Gir, Bandavgadh, Sunderbans, Wayanad and Mudumalai. |
| The firm has equity participation from Phanish Murthy, CEO, iGate Global Solutions and H B Jairaj, chairman of HRB Group. They have pooled in $3 million. For expansion, the firm will raise another $13 million through debt and equity. |
| The great thing about the cost of setting up such resorts is that land, away from urban areas, is cheap. What is not is power. So Cicada has imported the quietest and least polluting diesel generating sets. The longer term plan is to have individual solar units integrated with the roof of every cottage. |
| The most fascinating part of Cicada's business model is the use of local people in its workforce. Of the Kabini resort's 75-strong staff, 71 are from four neighbouring villages. The 600-odd families in those villages rely entirely on rainfed agriculture, so these jobs mean a lot to them. |
| "Many are illiterate, only 10 per cent have read upto 10th standard. They need training in personal grooming and basic skills. To train them we have tied up with the hotel management institute of Christ College, Bangalore." |
| No one is a casual employee, they are all paid provident fund, and all 71 have had to open bank accounts. They are also covered by cashless medical insurance. |
| For the medical cover to be meaningful, the Vivekananda Mission Hospital 25 km away has been roped in. Its doctors come to the resort regularly to hold medical camps. "All this is part of our business model," says Ramesh. |
| Cicada chanced upon the fact that Tata Motor exports 10-seater safari vehicles to South Africa. So Cicada has acquired these Euro 3 compliant four-wheel drive vehicles and got them suitably modified for its needs. Maybe others will now use them in India. That's how the drill runs "" innovate, standardise, replicate. |
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