About Develo

The History

“At Develo Flies we feel that there is a higher purpose than our own livelihoods. That is why Develo has chosen to give to community initiatives throughout the developing world. We give a substantial portion of our sales proceeds (ranging from 15-35% depending on the product) to causes we believe in because we approach our company like we approach any fishing excursion… it’s about the experience, not the result. If we can sell premium products that our customers and employees both love and stand behind and help our neighbors while doing it, then we can be fairly certain the results will take care of themselves.”                                                                                         -The Develo Team

Develo Incorporated was founded in June 2008 as two lifelong anglers and childhood friends from Texas, James Beshara and Clark Thompson, were living and working in Cape Town, South Africa at a non-profit organization that provided small loans to the poor through a poverty alleviation effort called “microfinance.”

Cape Town is a truly amazing place, as you can be on any one of the beautiful streams in the mountains fishing in the morning and be back in town by lunchtime. As you can guess, James and Clark spent much of their free time on the streams, and through their many excursions, they became great friends with the fly shop manager in the Jonkershoek National Reserve. James had dreamed of one day starting his own tackle outfit, and with the common passion, energy, and vision between the three, the dream quickly became a reality and Develo was born.

The Culture

The culture behind Develo is something quite unique. We focus on creating products that our employees are happy to stand by and our customers are happy to purchase. Our philosophy is simple… be passionate about everything you do. If our employees are passionate about our company, our customers will be passionate about our products... Simple as that.

And if things ever get too stressed, some “market research” is always the perfect thing to clear one's head and remind us why we do what we do. As for our business concept, we only distribute our premium flies in assortments of ten, lowering the distribution costs and logistics from hundreds of individual patterns to only a small handful of marquee products with the savings passed on to our customers. Our guarantee is simple - each fly is guaranteed for life. Just send the pattern or patterns back to us at any time, and we will promptly replace it for you for free, forever. For online orders, we have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with our products or flies, we’ll give you a full refund (and your Development contribution will still go to the cause of your choice).

So if you’re ever in Cape Town, South Africa or Dallas, Texas, swing by one of our offices and we’ll show you the place and the great people that make up our little company.

James Beshara, Chief Developer
Develo Flies