by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 5:00 PM ET, Wed April 10, 2019
While exploring a new destination is often the driving force behind travel decisions, an increasing number of globetrotters are also considering the impact of their travels during the planning process and factoring in social responsibility when making booking decisions.
For travelers who realize there's more to adventure than simply conquering the next summit or checking off a new country on a bucket list, a growing number of tour operators and travel start-ups have emerged with the goal of providing ways to make your travel spending more meaningful.
None among this nascent crop of trailblazers, however, are quite like OneSeed Expeditions.
The Denver-based adventure travel company, founded by Chris Baker, has taken the unique approach of pairing adventure trips with the opportunity to provide microfinance loans to the smallest and neediest of entrepreneurs in developing countries.
"This is a sector of the economy that's often overlooked or ignored or seen as unbankable," Baker explained during a recent interview with TravelPulse. "Most of our borrowers and loan recipients are either not able to access bank funds because of their income levels or lack of assets or because the banking sector doesn't view them as worth the trouble."
For each trip that's booked with OneSeed, 10 percent of the trip cost, based on gross revenue, is put into the company's OneSeed Microfinance Loan fund. The company partners with microfinance institutions around the globe that serve as financial intermediaries, dispersing and administering money from the loan fund to borrowers.
Since 2010, 695 such loans have been awarded, totaling $325,000. The average amount awarded is $582 and 90 percent of the funding has gone to women entrepreneurs.
What's more, all of the money is loaned with zero percent interest, with entrepreneurs repaying their debt over the course of the loan term as they launch or expand their business.
As Baker expressed so succinctly during a recent interview with TrendSetter: "You take an amazing trip to Everest Base Camp; a local woman launches or expands her business."
In other words, by participating in a journey with OneSeed you are investing in people around the world and in their future, quite literally changing the way travel impacts local communities.
"When we first got started, most loans were for agriculture businesses, things like seeds and fertilizer, and we've done quite a few livestock loans, as well as a lot of poultry farming," explained Baker. "Our next biggest bucket after agriculture is small retail."
From food vendors in Santiago to tea shops in Kathmandu, all the way up to a bakery that employs 60 people in Tanzania, OneSeed has funded all manner of small enterprises with the help of its travelers.
The money has gone to individuals like Sarita, a woman in Ghusel, Nepal, who operates a small farm behind her home high in the hills of the Kathmandu Valley. In addition to money, which she used to purchase supplies and labor to construct greenhouses, Sarita received business training. She has since been able to double her income.
"It is very important to work for yourself, to become independent and not be dependent on other people. I am very happy owning my own business, seeing my plants grow and being able to sell them for profit...education is so important" Sarita says in a testimonial on OneSeed's website.
This model of allowing first-world globetrotters to help locals through their travel choices was inspired by Baker's own travels and his background in finance. Prior to starting OneSeed in 2010, he spent a good amount of time in Nepal focused on anthropology and visiting small-plot farmers and micro-entrepreneurs.
That experience allowed Baker to develop a deep understanding of both the incredible need for capital and the vast potential such money could provide small entrepreneurs.
Together with other former researchers and teachers, he set out to create OneSeed. And in the nine years since launching, Baker says the company has been able to prove that its unique model of providing microfinance loans in developing countries with the help of travel dollars, is a model that can work and is sustainable.
"I think what distinguished us from the beginning is that the social responsibility and microfinance aspect was baked in from the start," Baker continued. "It wasn't a corporate social responsibility initiative that we launched after we had started the company and were doing well. It was part of how we initially set up the business."
As for OneSeed's trips, they always feature local guides and explorations of some of the most beautiful corners of the world.
The company operates in eight countries right now with a team of 65 guides. The destinations you can visit with OneSeed include Chile, Nepal, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Tanzania, and Bhutan. The company's intineraries range from such offerings as a Peru multi-sport adventure to ultimate Machu Picchu treks and Everest explorations.
"From day one we knew this model wouldn't work if we weren't first and foremost a good guiding operator," noted Baker.
Every year since launching, One Seed has added about one new country to its roster. Baker says the company's growth has been deliberately gradual, guided by the desire to identify opportunities that align with its principles and mission of having a positive impact on the world.
"For me, there are two primary drivers of travel - exploring a place and leaving that place a little bit better then you found it. And we try to meet both of those needs for travelers and do it in a transparent way," said Baker.
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