As a student working abroad, Andy Fidler realised there was a real gap in the market for a single source of information for gap year and student travellers.
The solution he came up with was a user-friendly information portal that the Daily Telegraph has billed ëGoogle for Gap Yearsí.
FindaGap.com can help adventurous travellers find anything from a volunteer project in Thailand to a hostel in Tahiti. The company also co-organises The Times Gap Year Show, placing it at the head of the field in an industry that is growing rapidly.
Not content with covering the travel and exhibition markets, Andy has also diversified into recruitment. His third business, the JobSlave Network, includes findaGapJob.com, findaStudentJob.com, findaGraduateJob.com and findaSkiResortJob.com and is promising to take the industry by storm. Unique in on-line recruitment, it operates a ëPay Per Appí policy, where employers post their vacancies for free and pay 1 for every application received.
Initially refused funding for his project, Andy Fidler launched his business by selling advertising space for the website that had yet to be built and by spending the last of his student loan. Less than three years later, he has established a mini youth media empire, with findaGap.com, The Gap Year Show and JobSlave.com all commanding increasing respect in their fields.
Now benefiting from growth funding, findaGap is in a position to adopt an aggressive expansion policy, taking advantage of the continuing popularity of gap year travel, increasing the profile of the Gap Year Show and taking on new sales and marketing staff to develop the almost unlimited potential of the JobSlave.com model.
Google for Gap Years
The solution he came up with was a user-friendly information portal that the Daily Telegraph has billed ëGoogle for Gap Yearsí
