The NapCap story
Travelling to far-flung destinations is all in a day’s work for NapCap founder Stuart Page. With years of experience staying in uncomfortable and stressful locations, in 2014 he decided to design a modular accommodation product that was comfortable, secure, easy to transport and of the highest quality. Oh, and did we say comfortable? Here, he shares the NapCap story.
‘I believe that even in the most challenging of locations, it is still possible to have a comfortable living experience without compromising on security standards and quality.’
How did it start
‘I spent almost 30 years roughing it either with the army, the Special Forces or as head of security for the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I had a lot of time to experience accommodation in hostile environments, from a blanket on the ground to container-type accommodation. Out of these experiences the idea of NapCap was born. I really believe that even in the most challenging of locations, it is still possible to have a comfortable living experience without compromising on security standards and quality.’
How did the name NapCap come about?
‘I had the idea of creating the NapCap units after years spent in similar but very uncomfortable accommodation in some of the world’s more un-inviting places. I did some research and liked the idea of the Sleep Pod, which I paraphrased for NapCap (cap=capsule). The choice of the word “capsule” came from the desire of something akin to a space capsule: a safe space in a hostile environment.’
What is your vision for NapCap?
‘To provide those who are operating in hostile or challenging environments with somewhere safe and comfortable to live or recharge batteries. It was really important to me that it was somewhere that I would enjoy staying in myself. If you’re working in a hostile environment, I cannot stress how essential it is to have somewhere comfortable to regroup in order to be able to perform in the field. A sort of haven in a tempestuous world.’
How did you turn the idea into a reality?
‘When the idea of Chelsea Village (our group’s accommodation camp in Mogadishu) came about, no ready-made solutions existed that satisfied my quality and safety requirements. So with the design in mind, I started looking for a manufacturer. I realised that the best organisation to build these units would be a shipyard. All the capabilities are available on the same spot: plumbing, welding, electrical work, woodwork, furniture, with the experience of working in small spaces. I visited shipyards all over Europe. It was very important to me that the quality of the workmanship was to European standards. Brodosplit in Croatia were the perfect fit.’
What is the future for NapCap?
‘We are now on rollout three of our designs, and – thanks to feedback from our clients and the experience we’ve had ourselves of staying in NapCaps in Mogadishu – the NapCap units keep evolving. It really is an innovative and adaptable product. And it’s not just the product that we offer in isolation: through our sister companies we can provide solar power and water solutions, as well as planning, building and managing camps anywhere in the world. We offer the full package and I believe we can be the go-to brand for all of our clients’ remote-site needs.’
Our partner
Brodosplit is a Croatian shipyard with a long tradition who first opened their docks in 1932 in Split. Their portfolio is extensive, they have many awards and are certified to ISO standards. A brief snapshot of Brodosplit’s projects includes superyachts, wind turbines, the largest square-rigged sailing ship ever built (with five masts, 35 sails and totalling 6350 m2) as well as 41 steel floodgates (each weighing 300 tonnes) that are destined for Venice, to help keep the historic city above water. Boasting a wide range of expertise from steel work to carpentry, combining a technological edge with an innovative approach, NapCap had found their ideal partnership in Brodosplit.
Brodosplit is certified to
ISO 9001 since 2007.
Brodosplit By Numbers
The year that Brodosplit was founded.
560 000
The size of Brodosplit in square metres, making it the largest shipyard in Croatia.
400
The number of ships delivered by Brodosplit over the last 80 years, with a combined cargo carrying capacity of 12-million tonnes.
1.2
millionThe number of metres of steel that Brodosplit cut per year.
300
tonnesThe weight of each of the flood gates Brodosplit is creating to save Venice from disappearing underwater.
Stuart Page
CEO of Enigma Alliance and founder of NapCap
Working as a security expert in international affairs and engagement in the diplomatic service, security, intelligence, military and the United Nations Stuart’s job has taken him to places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, China, Libya and North Africa. It was his years of staying in uncomfortable and risky places that made him determined to change the expected below-average accommodation so often found in field operations. And so NapCap was born. Like a true entrepreneur, he’s constantly expanding the brand with WaterCap and SolarCap providing water and solar solutions on site. When he’s not pondering how to make every NapCap even better Stuart likes to plan new joint ventures, run and admits to being hooked on The Daily Mail.
Rose Bethell
Interior designer, Cognitive Designs
With a background in décor and fashion styling, Rose has worked for the likes of Vivienne Westwood and has styled celebrities including Adele in her Rolling In the Deep music video. It’s her attention to detail that has made her involvement with NapCap a success: the colour and texture of the leather used on the sofa, the quality of the bed linen, the adding a porthole to the door. It’s the ongoing addition of these kind of details that makes NapCap such an impressive product. When Rose isn’t crafting the NapCap interiors, she’s re-designing and improving the look-and-feel of remote site camps such as Chelsea Village in Mogadishu. Follow Rose and her Mogadishu design makeovers on Instagram @wallpaperinginwarzones.
Branka Buzancic Primorac
Designer at Brodosplit
Branka graduated in Industrial Engineering at FESB (Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Enigineering and Naval Architecture) and has been working with Brodosplit since 2014. She’s the Ship Manager Assistant and the Project Manager who oversees the creation of the NapCap units, ensuring that the high level of quality is maintained and has been involved since the very first NapCap design plan. She says that she loves the fact that her job is a combination of office and field work and that she gets to work with people involved in the creation process as well as with people from all around the world. If she had to choose one word that describes the product best it would be ’resistant’.
The Chelsea Group
NapCap is part of the Chelsea Group, a conglomerate of companies offering a diverse yet complementary range of best-in-class services around the world.
The Chelsea Group has developed a worldwide reach with offices from London to Dubai to Shanghai and an operational footprint in 97 countries. With almost two decades of presence, the group is well established to provide end-to-end solutions involving complex requirements.
The areas of expertise include risk management, aviation security, power production, specialist human resources, remote site management, and more.
NapCap is both innovative and versatile – if you can imagine it, we can build it for you.
