S Sometimes, at a S Sometimes, at a crossroads, it becomes clear that the right and honourable path to choose is the most precarious one. It might not even really look like a path at all: to go forward in the right direction one must sometimes forge a whole new trail. In his lifetime, Joss Kent, the 54-year-old CEO of travel company &Beyond, has experienced several such crossroads. One of them happened in 2011 when, to the shock of the travel world – and his own family, he resigned as CEO of Abercrombie & Kent, the pioneering company started by his father, Geoffrey Kent, and then, six months later, signed on to lead &Beyond, the safari-lodge operator formerly called CC Africa (Conservation Corporation Africa) and A&K’s main competitor. He cited differences in opinion with his father in terms of future priorities and goals. Another one of those tests of strength and resolve came with the onslaught of Covid. Like many other CEOs, Kent had to make a tough decision about the future of his thousands of employees. He met for several days with his board – members of the Mark Getty family and the South Africa-based Enthoven family, who made their fortune in the insurance business – and they talked it out for hours. They chose the hard path: instead of firing their employees, some of whom supported larger communities, &Beyond decided to continue to pay most of their salaries on a sliding scale (Kent, and those that were paid the most, took the biggest hit) and “keep driving the company forward like a tank until we ran out of money”, says Kent. Not only did this choice generate great loyalty in the &Beyond staff, once Africa was accessible and the camps were open for business again, unlike other companies, they didn’t have to take months to rehire. “Because we already had a loyal staff in place and were prepared to take guests, we were able to be at full capacity sooner than everyone else, and by June of this year we managed to double our pre-Covid profits,” reveals Kent. Even now, a year later, while retelling this moment, he still appears surprised and grateful at the justice of the outcome. He stops a moment to allow us to take it in and then explains that the profit made in the last year has allowed the company to take its next risky journey: to double the company’s size by 2030. “We want to expand as fast as we can in the most sustainable way, so that we can get a hold of and protect as much crucial biosphere – from rainforest to marine and savannah areas – as possible.” At this moment, a balmy late morning in early August, in the Punakha Valley of Bhutan, it appears as if Kent is on another precarious road. It’s a scene out of an Indiana Jones film: he is about to cross a very long and narrow suspension bridge over the Pho Chhu River, which is at least 15 metres below, and is dramatically swollen with recent rainfall and rolling with rapids. But today, the CEO and father of three is at ease. The bridge is secure and covered in colourful Buddhist prayer flags flapping gently in the breeze and ahead is an uphill but relatively moderate climb to the Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten monastery, its golden dome gleaming beneath a beautiful clear blue sky. Kent is here in Bhutan to celebrate: &Beyond is about to open its first camp outside Africa. In some ways, Bhutan, which is already well established with several Aman, Como and Six Senses properties, was an unexpected choice for &Beyond, whose camps tend to be located in less developed areas but, for Kent, building a property in the country was an obvious, and also a personal, decision. “I’ve always dreamed of travelling to Bhutan since I was small,” he says, having crossed the bridge and now following a path up into dense woodlands. Kent grew up in Kenya, travelled extensively throughout east and south Africa as a child, went to school in England and then eventually travelled much of the world as an A&K guide, but somehow never made it to Bhutan. And although &Beyond had been sending its clients to Bhutan using a local partner since 2012, Kent only made it to the Buddhist kingdom six years ago. “It didn’t disappoint. In fact, I was overwhelmed with the experience of being in this incredible country. I walked through rice paddies, we hiked up to monasteries, I made it to Tiger’s Nest,” he recalled as we started our climb upwards and the roar of the river began to fade. “We said if we could build an Africa-style safari camp but built reflecting traditional Bhutanese architecture, with a sense of place, and with the support of the local community, what an amazing place it would be to bring our guests. And what a great place to start the adventure of building outside Africa.” One thing that &Beyond and Bhutan have in common is a shared goal of conserving land and indigenous cultures while at the same time, in order to do so, trying to make that goal profitable. Just as PHOTOS © &BEYOND 114 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
Clockwise from above: a bird’s-eye view of &Beyond’s new Punakha River Lodge, tucked in the verdant bend of the Mo Chhu river in western Bhutan; the veranda of the one-bedroom River House boasts its own swimming pool; a curio-filled common area the current King of Bhutan, who was educated in the United States and at Oxford, and his father, have believed in measuring the country’s progress with their GNH (Gross National Happiness) Index, for Kent, growing and supporting positive impact is what drives him to make more profit. One of the questions Kent is always grappling with as a CEO of a travel company is: can our footprints be lighter and more meaningful than destructive? “It’s an endlessly complex challenge, especially when growing the company but, ultimately, my team, my board and I believe we can,” he says. He believes there is a lot for &Beyond and its guests to learn from Bhutan, both in its priorities and leadership. “I think Bhutan is way ahead of everyone else in terms of preserving their biosphere and their culture and taking care of their citizens,” says Kent as we continue to climb upwards, occasionally following a switchback path that once in a while opens up to spectacular views of this valley of lush rice terraces (the temperate Punakha Valley is the rice bowl of the country) that spill down on every side to the snaking Mo Chhu. “They don’t just have a 50-year plan; the King here is talking about a 500-year conservation CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 115
