As an IT engineer and a robotics expert, Vaishnavi Joil was as far away from starting an adventure tourism company, as anyone else! Yet the pandemic happened and the dream to form a tech Start-up transformed into a deep desire to do something to uplift the people of her hometown, Devgad, and put it on the tourist map and path to development, just like its neighboring towns of Malvan and Ratnagiri. Devgad is a quaint little beautiful beach town, along the picturesque Konkan coastline, that has been the native of Joil family and the place where the sibling spent most of their childhood summer vacations lapping up delicious Devgad mangoes. This was also the place where the pandemic found them in their adult lives and also highlighted the various challenges faced by the locals.
After 18 years in IT, working with some of the leading MNCs, Vaishnavi joined a start-up in Pune and then the lockdown forced her to move to her hometown in Devgad. Although raised in Mumbai and working in Pune, Vaishnavi had dreamt of a regular Tech career trajectory. However, the move to Devgad was a revelation about the state of affairs in her hometown and she was saddened to see the lack of opportunities for the youth and the rate of unemployment. Although equally picturesque when compared to some of Konkan’s popular tourist destinations, Devgad had not witnessed any tourist flux. That is when Vaishnavi teamed up with her brother and decided to do something to uplift her hometown, by putting Devgad on the tourist map and thus creating employment opportunities for the people. Combining her passion for adventure sports with this goal, the siblings co-founded ‘Flying Konkan’ – an adventure sports company that brought the unique experience of coastal Zipline to the shores of Devgad.
Although a well-known adventure sport abroad, Zip lining is rare in India, and whatever few options are available, they are generally restricted to the mountains and hill stations. Zipline along a beach was never heard of in India. But Vaishnavi knew it was a possibility to not only introduce it to the Indian population but to also break away from the niche ‘water sports’ category that is actively promoted across coastal holiday destinations, especially in Konkan. What started with a curiosity and an idea in 2016, finally took shape and materialized in January 2021, after years of meticulous research, planning, permissions, paperwork, and several trials.
Perched at a height of about 280 meters from sea level and with a total length of 1885 meters, Flying Konkan Zipline is the first of its kind adventure sports activity in the coastal region of India. Apart from Zipline, Flying Konkan also plans to launch a surfing school to further enhance the reach of water sports beyond just a form of entertainment. Through the surfing school, she also aims to provide skills and employment to local youth who can become instructors and volunteers.
As a woman entrepreneur herself, Vaishnavi is also invested in empowering the local women folk and plans to start a restaurant/ eatery that employs local women, who cook the best of local cuisines, to allow travelers the most authentic taste of the region while also helping local women become independent.
When she is not inspiring women folks or recruiting local youth as adventure volunteers, Vaishnavi is busy innovating with RPA robots and creating solutions that help solve a series of real-world problems!
Team WS
