Bringing a smile to children with disabilities

Camp Natura is the dream of an entrepreneur to make possible a leisure park with a social cause on his own estate.

My role
Client	Camp Natura
Date	2015
Sector	Leisure
Task	Creating a business plan and seeking investors for setting up an outdoor leisure park
Challenge	A dream for children with disabilities… that wasn’t mean to be

The limited offer in the local market for leisure activities for children with different disabilities makes it an opportunity for investors with a social sensibility.

Here we have a successful businessman with a member of his family suffering from multiple sclerosis in a degenerative spiral. His memories of better times fading away yet doing the impossible to make it joyful and entertaining.

In his large estate in Costa Brava, he landscaped his property for his loved one to continue doing her favourite outdoor activities. And then it stroke him: “why shouldn’t other people in the same situation be able to enjoy this” and decided his own estate would be turned into a leisure park for children with disabilities.

He contacted us at Stratega Consultants to set up a project to make his dream a reality. We aimed to create a nature park with activities adapted to children with disabilities: from horse and quad riding to boat rowing, horticultural activities, bow shooting, adapted swimming pools, campfire activities…

This ambitious project faced several challenges, from financing to municipal permits and soon was realized this had to be approached as a business, socially responsibly and non-profit, but sustainably and self-reliant nonetheless. Its location, close to a major highway and at about an hour from the capital metropolitan area -with 4 million residents-, meant the potential was significant. But also striking a balance between social goals and viability meant the initial goal had to be expanded to include different target audiences. Thus, the project was modulated to also include school activities for grade schoolers (5-12yo).

Moving forward some months, the difficulties of government bureaucracy to have the estate reclassified for such activity proved too much of a burden and the project was abandoned. It must be said that, despite this subsequent problem, our job as consultants was completed and a business plan with all the bells and whistles was delivered.