How Ryan Howsam turned a love of golf into profits

From humble beginnings selling golfing insurance, Staysure - the multimillion-pound business founded by Ryan Howsam - is one of Britain's fastest growing companies.

By 1998, Ryan Howsam, now 45, was in trouble. Throughout the 1990s, he had built up a chain of "18-30" stores selling clothing, holidays and a popular discount card for regular clubbers. But as it began to struggle, he "decided to wind it up and look for something else". That would prove to be a smart move.

A keen golfer (he had considered turning pro as a youngster), he decided to create a new discount card that offered deals for short golfing holidays around Britain. Howsam got the cards placed in a number of sports retailers. As sales increased one of them, JJB Sports, asked if he could provide golf insurance too. "Golf insurance covers the usual stuff like losing your clubs, but it also takes care of extras, for example if you hit someone with a golf ball."

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.