Curriculum Vitae
Jason Borthwick is a business developer and marketeer. He uses his imagination and vision to drive forward a varied selection of projects. From building backpackers hostels and running HIV/AIDS campaigns in Africa to internal communications at Virgin Direct and diversification projects with the family business in north Norfolk. Now he juggles the continual development of the family business with being an independent consultant giving diversification, environmental and marketing advice. During these projects Jason has become an excellent project designer and implementer and realised his potential as a marketeer. He’s been described as a polymath, meaning his knowledge is not restricted to one subject area. The more recent projects have been environmentally friendly, a passion that has developed since his return from working in Africa and continues to drive the direction of Jason’s career. He chooses jobs and projects that engage his knowledge, drive and imagination.
| Current Employment | |
| Diversification Consultant / Marketing Consultant - Earthly Ideas | Since September 2006 |
| Self employed, providing consultancy and advice on a range of diversification and eco-friendly projects, including business development, project design, planning and marketing. Developed a successful Leader Local Development Strategy for Waveney Valley accessing over £3m of public funding. Wrote successful Leader Expression of Interest for Suffolk Coast and Vale. Business Coach for the Profit Through Productivity Programme, Best Practise Forum. Presents and trains around the UK at conferences and courses on subjects including diversification, green business and building a brand. |
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| Diversification Partner - Deepdale Farms | Since January 2000 |
| Tourism facilities – Designed the buildings, project managed the build, directly ran the business for four years before leasing out and now continues to do all the marketing, PR and further business development. Facilities include backpackers hostel, campsite, group hostel, tipis, yurts and visitor information centre, catering for 38,000 bed nights a year, £300,000 turnover, 15 staff, mailing list of over 16,000. Retail site – Designed the site, project managed the build and continue to carry out marketing and PR. Invested approximately £1.5m, all units leased, include Fat Face clothing & Costcutter, over 50 jobs created. Development of two major events, North Norfolk Coast Earth Day and Deepdale Christmas Market Now working on next major project looking for next major projects, Norwich Backpackers Hostel and the East of England Backpackers Network. |
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| Previous Work | |
| Columnist – Eastern Daily Press | January 2007 – July 2008 |
| Writing adhoc columns for the Eastern Daily Press about environmental issues. | |
| Web Marketeer – deepdale.net, Burnham Deepdale | January 2000 – February 2004 |
| Design, development and marketing of websites. Took existing very poor sites and new sites and increased readership from 10s a month to 1000s a day. | |
| Organiser – Deepdale Jazz Festival | 1999 – 2006 |
| Conceived and organised festival, which attracted over 2000 people a year and filled the tourism facilities at Deepdale Farm at out of season times. | |
| Marketing Communications – Virgin Direct, Norwich | November 1997 – December 1999 |
| Developing and ran intranet and internal communications. Carried out staff conferences and idea workshops, wrote internal newsletter and competitions. | |
| Sales and Marketing Consultant, Chameleon Safaris Namibia | August 1997 – September 1997 |
| Developed website and other marketing material, including setting up overseas sales agents. | |
| Consultant, UNICEF / UNAIDS, Windhoek, Namibia | June – August 1997 & June – December 1996 |
| Developed HIV/AIDS communication and World AIDS Day events throughout the country. Built relationships with and between NGO, voluntary, government and foreign government organisations, including first conference on HIV/AIDS in Namibia. Fundraising for projects. Designed and wrote first newsletter for HIV/AIDS related organisations. Oversaw publicity of first public HIV sufferer. | |
| Internet Designer/Sales and Marketing, Millennia, Cape Town | September 1996 & February – May 1997 |
| Created social site about Cape Town, including discount club and what’s on promotion. | |
| Sales and Marketing, West Coast Ostrich Ranch, Cape Town | December – May 1996 |
| Developed the PR and marketing, first brochures, overseas promotion and international press. | |
| Sales / Training Representative, Top Deck Travel, London | June 1994 – October 1995 |
| Trained agents throughout the UK. Developed relationships with overseas agents. | |
| Education | ||
| BTEC HND in Computing (with placement) | University of Central England in Birmingham |
September 1990 – June 1994 |
| 3 A-levels, 5 O-levels | Oundle School, Oundle, Peterborough |
January 1985 – July 1989 |
| Responsibilities | |
| Board Member: | Visit Norwich Ltd Deepdale Farm Ltd |
| Committee Member: | King Street Cultural Quarter (Chair of Organising Committee) Nelsonspirit (Crew member) Aylsham High School (Governor) British Hospitality Association Eastern Regional Board (Committee Member) Norfolk Tourism Members Group (Committee Member) Aylsham Cittaslow Events Committee (Committee Member) |
| Previous Memberships: | Norfolk Coast and Broads Local Action Group (Management Group Member) Leaf Policy and Strategic Development Committee (Committee Member) East of England Tourist Board Commercial Members Shaping Norfolk’s Future Environmental Prosperity Group (Committee Member) Norfolk Tourism Executive Aylsham Plastic Bag FREE Aylsham Traders Association Committee (Committee Member) |
| IT Skills | |
| Advanced: | CorelDraw, Microsoft Word, FrontPage, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Publisher, Paint Shop Pro, WS_FTP Pro, Dynamic Submission |
| Intermediate: | Operating Systems – Small Business Server 2000 and 2003, XP, 2000, 98, MS-Dos |
| Hobbies and Interests | |
| Travel: | Visited over 65 countries including Western Europe, East Germany, Caribbean (including Cuba), Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Atlantic Islands, North America, Australasia, Southern Asia |
| Music (preferably live), The Arts (both high and low!) | |
| References |
| Available on request |
