Sponsoring?
 

In Februari I am leaving (from Belgium)for a 4- month trip with my bike across the sahara to west-Africa and back.

I am trying to find sponsors for this trip, but i don't really now where to start looking, does anybody has any experience with getting sponsors for that kind of trip?
Which companys should I ask for sponsorship?

All tips are very welcome.

Dries

Hello Dries,

don't count on it. We are just back from a "humanitary"-trip to The Gambia. Even with that goal it was not easy to find sponsors. It all comes down to having "connections". Don't waste your time on writing letters etc. Go personnaly and talk to as many people as possible about your trip : maybe something might come up.

Greetings,

Kar El

Unless (or even if) you are famous I would say forget it apart from maybe a few free tyres or spares.
With spons you have to ask yourself "what's in it for them? - what are you doing that no one else has done before?"

Chris S

For London to Sydney (www.LSOEXPED.com)we had over 80 sponsors. That took eight of us working almost full time for 5 months. We had to generate media interest to offer something to sponsors - you then have to deliver what you say you are going to. DO NOT PROMISE THINGS YOU CAN'T DELIVER - 90% of expeditions do this.

Even in our example, if we were all working full time and earning money, we could have bought all we received, and had cash left over.

If you have specific contacts, then it's worth a call.

If you are going to get media interest anyway, then it is worth cold-calls.

Otherwise, you can spend your time more usefully in other areas.

Sam.