Håvar Bauck
| Håvar Bauck | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1977 |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Norway |
| 💼 Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | HotelOnline, Savanna Sunrise, Kaleidoscope Africa |
| 🌐 Website | |
Håvar Bauck is a Norwegian-born traveltech entrepreneur, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He has previously also lived in Lagos, Oslo and Brussels.
He is the founder of HotelOnline.[1][2][3], which he launched with Endre Opdal in 2014. He is also known for his role in Savanna Sunrise[4][5], as well as other technology startups and scale-ups focused on African markets.
Early life and education[edit]
Bauck grew up in Norway and Belgium. He attended the Lycée Français de Belgique Jean Monet and later Lycée Français d'Oslo René Cassin, where he graduated in 1996.
After completing his military conscription service at Andøya Air Station, he went on to pursue a Masters degree in Business and Economics at the BI Norwegian Business School.
Professional Background[edit]
Upon completing his education, Bauck was selected for an exchange program by AIESEC, sponsored by Norec.[6][7][3] This brought him to Kenya in 2002 and 2003, where he was seconded to the Kenya Investment Authority. He stayed on in Kenya afterwards, initially launching his own consulting business. He has since lived and worked in Nairobi, Lagos and Oslo, working in several technology startups and scale-ups focusing on African markets, including IPdrum[8][9], Vyke[10] and Upstream
Entrepreneurship[edit]
In 2013, Bauck launched Nairobi Airport Hotel[1][4], a serviced apartments hotel next to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport together with his business partner Endre Opdal. Nairobi Airport Hotel was the first budget accommodation next to the airport, and a pioneer in online hotel marketing in Kenya[11] Following the initial commercial success, Bauck and Opdal launched Savanna Sunrise[5][12], providing solutions for e-commerce and online marketing to hotels in Emerging Markets. After growing rapidly in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda,[11] Bauck and Opdal called off a merger process with Nigerian competitor HotelOga in 2017[13][14], after a due diligence showed that the envisaged merger was not viable.[15][13] The merger process, however, had already been widely covered in the Nigerian and Kenyan press.[16][17] HotelOga collapsed shortly thereafter, prompting Bauck and Opdal to acquire HotelOga's closely associated, but separate technology partner Hotel Online Sp. z.o.o in Poland[15][18]. In the process, they rebranded Savanna Sunrise to HotelOnline, and launched new operations in the Nigerian market.[19] In 2018, HotelOnline acquired Nordic OTA Cityhotels[3] and Senegalese traveltech startup Teranga Solutions.[11]
In June 2019, Bauck was also appointed Chairman of Kenyan traveltech startup Cloud9XP, while announcing their merger with Kenyan tours and travel startup Heartbeat Adventures.[20][21]
Kaleidoscope Africa[edit]
In 2018, Bauck launched the Kaleidoscope Africa nonprofit initiative jointly with Nairobi-based entrepreneurs Joram Mwinamo, Preben Wik and Jesper Hörnberg. The initiative is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship in Kenya, and connecting startups with investors.[22][23][24]
Acting[edit]
Bauck appeared at the Kenya National Theatre in 2003, in the South African musical Sarafina!, playing the role of an apartheid regime policeman during the 1976 Soweto uprising. He later also appeared in the then-popular TV show Reflections on KBC as Ted.[7]
Family[edit]
Håvar Bauck is the grandson of Norwegian WW2 resistance fighter and Auschwitz survivor Erling Bauck [25] , and the great-great grandson of Norwegian general Ivar Bauck.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Changarampatt, Manoj (2017-12-06). "Founder Havar Bauck, on Building HotelOnline to Become a Hotel Booking Stalwart". Techweez. Nairobi.
- ↑ Wakoba, Sam (2018-09-27). "HotelOnline signs up over 1500 hotels across 17 markets in Africa, Europe & South Asia". TechMoran. Nairobi.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Charlesen, Henrik (2018-05-07). "Tar norsk reiselivsteknologi til Afrika". Finansavisen. Oslo. pp. front, 31, 32.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Charlesen, Henrik (2017-03-06). "Nordmenn er ledende på hotellbooking i Afrika". Finansavisen. Oslo. pp. front, 31, 32.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Southwood, Russell (2016-04-08). "Savanna Sunrise opens up global online hotel bookings in East Africa". Balancing Act Africa. London.
- ↑ Søiland, Arne (2002-11-21). "U-hjelp til selvhjelp". Computerworld Norway. Oslo.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ringheim, Gunnar (2003-12-27). "Håvar er såpestjerne i Kenya". Dagbladet. Oslo. p. 62.
- ↑ Ursin, Camilla (2006-07-06). "Ring gratis med mobilen". DinSide. Oslo.
- ↑ Studenttorget (2007-01-16), Ny norsk løsning gir deg skype på mobilen, Oslo: Studenttorget
- ↑ Southwood, Russell (2007-06-24). "Vyke introduces VoIP retail calls to Africa at near to wholesale rates". Balancing Act Africa. London.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chege, Kimani (2019-04-25). "How two Norwegians turned Kenyan built a global traveltech success from five apartments in Syokimau". The Exchange. Dar es Salaam.
- ↑ Charlesen, Henrik (2019-07-08). "Putter penger i afrikansk hotellbooking". Finansavisen. Oslo. pp. 18, 19.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Southwood, Russell (2018-04-01). "Travel Tech Start-Up Hotelonline's Co-Founder Havar Bauck On a Merger That Almost Went Wrong". Allafrica.com. London.
- ↑ Dada, Benjamin (2019-02-17), HotelOnline management clears the air about Marek's involvement with the company, Lagos: Benjamindada.com
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Timm, Stephen (2019-07-11). "Norwegian Håvar Bauck's Kenyan startup HotelOnline announces it's raised $320k". Ventureburn. Johannesburg.
- ↑ May, Kevin (2017-02-20). "HotelOga and Savanna Sunrise merge, plot travel tech domination in Africa". Phocuswire. London.
- ↑ Tubei, George (2017-02-16). "HotelOga and Savana Sunrise merge together to take on the world". Pulse Live by Business Insider. Nairobi.
- ↑ Koumelis, Theodore (2017-06-17). "Local go Global - African Hotels Equipped with a New Business Engine". Travel Daily News. Cyprus.
- ↑ Nwanekwu, Lucky (2019-07-17). "Nigerian investors join Shroff for a stake in HotelOnline". BusinessDay. Lagos.
- ↑ Jackson, Tom (2019-06-12). "Kenyan travel startups Cloud9xp and HeartBeat Ventures have merged". Disrupt Africa. Nairobi.
- ↑ Timm, Stephen (2019-06-13). "Norwegian Håvar Bauck behind Cloud9xp merger in Kenya". Ventureburn. Cape Town.
- ↑ Wakoba, Sam (2019-04-18). "Kaleidoscope Africa's series of events to boost tech entrepreneurship in Kenya". Techmoran. Nairobi.
- ↑ Chege, Kimani (2019-04-01). "Kenyan based entrepreneurs launch talk forums". The Exchange. Dar Es Salaam.
- ↑ Rinchi (2019-05-17), Four Kenyan Entrepreneurs Launch an Initiative for the Entrepreneurship Community in Nairobi, Nairobi: Tech in Africa
- ↑ Ringheim, Gunnar (1995-01-26). "Møte med farfars helvete". Dagbladet. Oslo. p. 24, 25, 26.
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