An accountant from Derry-Londonderry with a love for local history has credited new enterprise service Go Succeed with giving him the commercial guidance he needed to turn his passion into a sustainable business.
David Douglas founded walking tour business Derrie Danders in 2017 to offer visitors and locals the opportunity to walk around his home town with him while he imparts some of the stories and key events that shaped its history.
He aims to deliver original, authentic, politically neutral and historically accurate tours to small and private groups and over the last six years he has developed a reputation for entertaining yet educational tours around the city.
The tours are 5 star rated on a wide variety of tourism platforms including Viator, Trip Advisor, Airbnb Experiences, Toursbylocals, Google and VoiceMap.
“I always had an interest in history and had considered doing it as my degree but I didn’t see a career plan from that so I went into accountancy,” he explained. “One of my consultancy clients was an engineering company and I sometimes had to work in Sweden and Spain for them, so I took the opportunity while travelling to do local tours and this kindled my plan to do it as a business when I retired.
“In 2017 I did the Level 2 Tour Guiding course at NWRC and a few months later I was asked to take out a group from my local church - by the time I had designed the tour, I had the idea for a business.
“As I come from an Ulster Scots background, I wanted to use the word ‘dander’ to describe my business and the name Derrie comes from one of the earlier names of the city, so avoids the Derry or Londonderry issue as being politically neutral.
“I joined Visit Derry and Tour Guides NI and made sure I had all the relevant public liability insurance and health and safety procedures to start getting my business known in the city and beyond.”
The Go Succeed programme is a £17 million scheme backed by the UK government’s department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and offers a range of support for start-ups and those considering setting up a new company.
The free service is also helping to scale and grow businesses, large and small, throughout their life cycle.
Through one-to-one mentoring and workshops, David has gained valuable insights into enhancing his social media presence and marketing strategies.
The programme also allocated him grand funding which he used to purchase equipment to enhance his tour offering.
“Initially I signed up for mentoring only but an idea came through with my collaboration with the NWRC Business Centre to develop a tour using augmented reality,” he recalls.
“The grant programme with Go Succeed allowed me to purchase hardware in the form of tablets that I can use with my tours and to assist with marketing and production of a video to promote the AR enhanced tours and the wider business.
“I would highly recommend the programme, my advice to anyone thinking of starting their own business is go for it – but be prepared to work hard and either learn a variety of new skills or pay for those skills from the right people.
“As an accountant I had an advantage already with financial skills but I’ve had to learn marketing, social media, selling skills while all the time still working as a one man band tour guide.”
David has developed a range of tours that can be booked through his website including Blue Plaques of the Maiden City, Shirt Factories Heritage, LegenDerry Musical Mystery Tour and Influential Women of the Walled City Walking Tour (The 'Real Derry Girls' Tour).
“The business has been going for six years now and of course we lost substantial parts of 2000 to 2022 with COVID but it is only this year I am able to get repeat business from good quality tour operators.
“You have to keep knocking on the doors, attending trade shows and eventually they will open.”
The business is now his full-time occupation and he hopes to continue to grow it in the years ahead while also training and inspiring the next generation of tour guides through his role with the North West Regional College.
“Overall highlights would be the range of people from all over the world that I have guided and their positive feedback either verbally or through review sites such as Trip Advisor where I am 5 star rated.
“The plans are to grow the business to focus more on specialised historical tours including the AR versions, but to maintain the quality and personal touch for my guests, so if I recruit other guides, they will need to embrace my ethos too.
“I’m also keen to continue working with NWRC and assisting with their tourism teaching courses.”
For further information on Derrie Danders, including the tours available, pricing and booking visit derriedanders.co.uk.
Go Succeed is the Entrepreneurship Support Service for Northern Ireland, funded by the UK Government.
If you have your own business idea and don’t know where to get started, or want to take your existing company to the next level, you can speak to the team at Go Succeed.
All services have been designed to provide entrepreneurs and businesses with the right tools to either get off the ground or grow their organisations - and boost the wider economy.
The tools include mentoring, masterclasses, peer networks and opportunities to access grant funding and a business plan and are tailored to support the needs of the specific service users.
To find out more about Go Succeed, the help on offer, and to see a calendar of upcoming events and workshops, visit www.go-succeed.com
For further information on the support programmes available to set up and grow your business through Derry City and Strabane District Council visit derrystrabane.com/business and follow us on Socials @Business Support Derry Strabane.