Photo by Guy Ellis Photography
Some people say they don't do their work for money. Guy Ellis, CEO of Completely Unique Safaris, really doesn't need the money.
A third generation South African, Ellis started trading stocks when he was 13. "My grandfather first showed me how to do it," he said. Before long he was busily trading on the stock market, diligently researching companies. "During school recess I would be calling my broker."
Ellis plunged into stock trading with the youthful zeal that some kids apply to memorizing the specs of car models. He developed an Excel program for tracking companies. "I researched three companies so thoroughly I could tell you everything about them. It got to the point where my broker was calling me to find out things."
Ellis started a hedge fund dealing in Contracts for Difference, a kind of derivative, when he was 17. He studied accountancy and finance at the University of South Africa, then worked as an auditor for Ernst and Young and then was recruited by First Rand Ltd, South Africa's largest financial institution. He continued to encounter success after success.
But Ellis had another passion that had an even stronger grip on him than the financial wizardry for which he had such a talent. "You always want what you don't have," said Ellis. He had many experiences of the African bush since he was young, but it was extremely rare to see a leopard. Ellis became increasingly preoccupied with finding leopards and photographing them.
"It became an obsession," said Ellis. "I tracked more leopards than anyone I've talked to. Of all the people I've met, expert game trackers and rangers, I've found people who have seen maybe 50 leopards. I've tracked 500, and photographed 300."
He became such an authority on leopards he was approached by the Endangered Wildlife Trust. First they asked him if they could use his pictures. Then they asked him to become an ambassador for the organization - the youngest they had ever had by 30 years.
Ellis founded the Leopard Identification Project with the mission "To be the most effective and largest single formatted central database for leopard intelligence of its kind in Africa, while simultaneously raising funds and awareness for leopard conservation through our Safaris."
Meanwhile, Ellis' family, who had always been world travelers and successful business people, decided to formalize their practice of taking friends on safari. Sharing the family gift of business acumen, Guy Ellis' mother Michelle was the founder of X-Posè, a highly successful design and distribution company in the fashion industry.
After many years of hosting friends on exclusive safaris and explorations of Africa, the family decided to start their own safari company, with Michelle as chairman, Guy as CEO, Guy's sister Jade Ellis as chief quality officer and Jade's boyfriend Joel Kletz as guest relations officer. The company will create personalized safari programs throughout sub-saharan Africa.
The name Completely Unique Safaris is more than a brand. The Ellises believe it is an accurate description of what the company does.
"We have no competition," said Guy Ellis. "Some people say they are our competition, but no one does what we do."
The company targets only the very upper crust of the traveling public: those few travelers for whom money is literally no object.
"The way we work," said Ellis, "is like this. If you were to call me on Friday from New York and tell me you wanted to take a safari, I would fly to New York the next day and meet you for lunch and we would talk about what you want to do on your safari."
How is it unique? According to the company's promotional material, the family established the business "after decades of living and traveling in Africa."
The company is "purely the formalization of a history of passion and sharing something so special with others." The company will handle only a very few clients and give them its full attention. Guy Ellis promises to do anything for his guests that is not "literally impossible, life threateningly dangerous or illegal."
The trips are formulated for billionaires, or people who behave like them, and "guests will not encounter anything remotely like a package safari holiday."
It's fair to say that money is the principal driver for a great deal of activity both inside and outside of business. So if the Ellis family doesn't need money, why do they do it?
"I do it for passion," said Ellis.
And what is your passion for?
"My passion is to save Africa," said Ellis. "If we are going to save Africa and the African wildlife, it will be done through love, through emotion, through passion. The only way to share that passion with people on the outside is for people to experience it themselves. So many people travel to Africa on these cookie cutter trips. It's like if you have only eaten grocery store chocolate and you've never tasted Belgian chocolate. The grocery store chocolate tastes okay, but if you haven't tasted the Belgian chocolate, you will never know what you are missing."
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