Sport Industry NextGen is delighted to announce a new partnership with The Wave, an inland surfing destination based in Bristol.
To celebrate the new relationship, we caught up with founder, Nick Hounsfield, to find out more about the unique ‘slice of the ocean’ and why it has joined this year’s NextGen programme.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your career before The Wave?
I would say that there are a few common themes that would very much summarise my life so far. A deep passion for being outdoors and getting involved in sport of any kind. A total obsession with water, waves and surfing. A feeling like I’ve been put onto this planet to help and protect people.
These are the common threads of my life and for almost 20 years I was in healthcare working as an Osteopath and balancing ‘helping people’ with trying to escape to the ocean for my own health. I never knew I would be able to fuse those passions so neatly!
What was the inspiration behind The Wave?
Whilst working as an osteopath I realised that a lot of the patients I was seeing everyday were struggling with their health due to a number of common themes.
They had little or no connection to the outdoors and nature, a lack of community or connection to people around them, and were increasingly inactive. Fundamentally, they were stressed and at least one, if not all, of these things were impacting their lives negatively.
I felt as a health practitioner that I needed to come up with a ‘Blueprint’ for health based around water, waves, the outdoors and connecting people with each other and the planet around them. I’d seen the emerging research around Blue Health and I knew that getting people in the water would positively impact their health and wellbeing.
Fast forward 12 years and this original vision is still at the heart of The Wave.
Surfing to me is more than just a sport, a culture, a way of life. It’s my medicine, my reset button, the thing I do to rediscover the best version of myself. I wanted to share this feeling, and the many health benefits of surfing, with people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.
What were the biggest challenges you faced getting The Wave up and running?
There were numerous challenges along the way. Finding land, gaining planning permission, building a world-first ‘slice of the ocean’ in a field. But the biggest hurdle to overcome was to gain the investment to make The Wave a reality.
Securing £30m to build something that had never been done before with technology that hadn’t been used at this scale before was a big ask! We pitched to over 250 people and organisations before we secured the finding to make be able to build The Wave. It took a bucketful of belief and resilience.
Why has The Wave partnered with the Sport Industry NextGen programme?
We are strong believers in sharing what we have learnt with others and passing on insights and advice – much of which we have learnt the hard way! It’s great to support the work Sport Industry Group is doing to develop and mentor and next generation of talent.
Entrepreneurship will be a theme for the 2023 NextGen programme? What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced and biggest rewards you’ve earned through your journey as an entrepreneur?
The biggest challenge for an entrepreneur (or what I call innovative problem solvers) is conventional thinking, conventional systems, and conventional structures.
The role of an entrepreneur is to keep asking the question ‘why’ and challenge conventional thinking and the unconscious bias that makes people and organisations behave and make decisions in a certain way. It’s a tricky process as it can ruffle feathers along the way unless you approach it with humility and understanding.
However, looking at problems with fresh eyes and a clear focus on the impact you want to create will allow you to bust down doors where others have failed. We managed to get planning permission for a world-first, Inland Surfing destination in Green Belt land. Raise £30m on an unproven business. Survived a pandemic with only three months of trading under our belt. Those are the big highlights but there were many more along the way.
Innovation is also one of the key areas of focus for this year’s NextGen programme. How important has constant innovation been for your own pioneering business?
At the heart of The Wave is a ground-breaking, truly innovative technology and our approach has always been to do things differently.
I am Chief Visionary Officer at The Wave, and my focus is to look to the long-term and to challenge us to think big in how we approach business. We are driven by a core purpose to ‘nurture a world of hope, health and happiness with every wave’ and we must continue to be innovative in order to deliver this to as many people as possible.
Sustainability and social change will also sit as key pillars throughout this year’s programme. At The Wave, how important is this to you and how do you ensure it remains top of the agenda?
The Wave is based on triple bottom line thinking – or our Three Wave approach as we call it. This means we weigh up the impact of our decisions on the people around us and the planet we share – as well as considering if they are financially sustainable.
We are making some big steps forward in terms of positive impact. We have gained planning approval and funding for a solar and battery array that will be installed this year and which will mean we produce more power than we use, making us Net Zero Carbon operationally.
Our social impact programme continues to grow every year, with a focus on supporting the UK para surfing community, breaking down barriers to inclusion, building a more diverse community of surfers and supporting organisations using surf therapy to help people struggling with their mental health.
These things remain top of our agenda because they are a core part of our purpose. They are in our DNA!
“We are strong believers in sharing what we have learnt with others and passing on insights and advice – much of which we have learnt the hard way! It’s great to support the work Sport Industry Group is doing to develop and mentor and next generation of talent.”
NICK HOUNSFIELD, FOUNDER, THE WAVE
If you had one piece of advice for the Sport Industry NextGen Leaders before they embark on 2023 programme, what would it be?
1 – Ask questions, particularly “why”!
2 – Build a network of people who inspire you. I wasn’t an expert in wave technology, planning applications, construction methodology, systems integration, financial modelling or Blue Health, but I surrounded myself with brilliant people who were and I asked lots of questions.
3 – Try to think long term enough to imagine your own personal impact you want to see in the world. This programme is just one of the stepping stones towards that impact, but have a think about ‘what’s next?’
The exciting news is that the Leaders will be heading to The Wave in the summer! Any advice for them once they are on the waves!?
Smile! The best surfer is the one having the most fun!!
As part of our official partnership, The Wave is offering all members of Sport Industry the chance to get 10% off for their staff via their business partnership scheme. All members will be sent this code directly.
In addition to this, if you want to emulate the NextGen cohort and take your team to The Wave, enquire here and The Wave team will help you build the perfect away day. To find out more, e-mail corporates@thewave.com
