Tom Marchant: making a million from the travel-bug

Ex-City analyst Tom Marchant started his travel company with £20,000 savings. After honourable mentions in glosssy magazines, the company's now turning over £7.5m.

If your idea of a perfect holiday is trekking in a remote part of the Himalayas, or drinking in one of Bogota's hippest bars, Tom Marchant, 30, is the man to go to. His company, Black Tomato, specialises in taking travellers off the beaten track.

Marchant was no travelling novice when he started out; he'd done everything from working on fishing trawlers in the South China Sea to getting into mobile-phone advertisements on Korean TV. His experiences would prove handy later: "If someone said I want to go to Buenos Aires, we'd been there and knew about it and could ring our contact in Buenos Aires and find out what activities they could get up to."

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Jody Clarke

Jody studied at the University of Limerick and was a senior writer for MoneyWeek. Jody is experienced in interviewing, for example digging into the lives of an ex-M15 agent and quirky business owners who have made millions. Jody’s other areas of expertise include advice on funds, stocks and house prices.