Tourism is the biggest employer of labour globally and as Africa with its large female population seeks to grow in Tourism there is a need to grow the population of women in Tourism Business. Lets take a moment and recognize the Heroines for their efforts, innovations and exceptional achievements for promoting responsible tourism in Kenya.
Dr. Betty Radier
Dr. Betty Addero Radier is the CEO of the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) – the government agency charged with marketing Kenya as a preferred tourism destination locally, regionally and globally and sharing the diverse experiences that Kenya has to offer. She has, for the past 20 years been tasked with heading/managing organizations involved in senior-level Strategic Marketing and Operations role; developing strategies for local and global brands and businesses in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Indian Ocean Islands and the Ivory Coast.Dr. Radier’s passion sprouts from seeing companies harness the full potential of their brands and making sure that this growth impacts overall financial and reputational success.
She is a master of growing corporate and product brands and this is demonstrated clearly in her years of experience in various managerial roles and has a penchant for strategic yet practical outlook to business, coupled with a strong passion for impactful marketing initiatives. She has worked for regional marketing and advertising powerhouses including Managing Director Ogilvy and Mather, TBWA, Grey Advertising and ScanGroup.
A self-motivated, versatile and results-oriented team leader, she has served as the Marketing Director for Samsung Electronics, Microsoft Business marketing and organizational lead for East and Central Africa and subsequently the partner strategy and program lead West East Central Africa and Indian Ocean Islands (McCann Kenya, TBWA Creative Ltd) move with rest of agency brands (where she doubled as a partner) and SCANAD. Betty has a passion for harnessing and developing talent and realizes this passion through her role as an adjunct faculty at Strathmore Business School Dr. Radier holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, an MBA in Strategy and Finance from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor’s Degree in Design from the University of Nairobi.
Rosemary Mugambi
Ms. Mugambi has been with the Serena Group of Hotels for the past 28 years, having joined as a management trainee when the group had a portfolio of only five hotels in Kenya. She has served in various capacities at different Serena properties including Human Resources Manager, Food and Beverage Manager and Rooms Division Manager at the Serena Beach Resort and Spa in Mombasa, Kenya and was Serena’s 1st female Lodge Manager managing Samburu Serena Safari Lodge.In 2000 Rosemary moved from Samburu to the Head Office, joining the Sales and Marketing Department as the Group Sales Manager responsible for sales for 11 properties in Kenya and Tanzania. The company portfolio has since grown to 25 properties following its expansion in Africa with properties in Uganda, Rwanda, and Mozambique as well as new properties in Kenya and Tanzania. Rosemary was promoted to the position of Regional Sales and Marketing Director for the Serena Group in November 2012, a position she holds up to date.
Vickie Muyanga
Vickie Muyanga is the Regional Director of Sales for Carlson Rezidor Hotel GroupVickie is an executive level Sales & Marketing professional specializing in Africa region.She is performance-driven, with 23+ years of continuous advancement and expertise in the hospitality industry. She was instrumental in the successful launch and positioning of two international Hotel brands in the East Africa Market space – Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Radisson Blu.She is a proactive and an enthusiastic change agent with a proven record of accomplishment in efficiency management, cost reduction, revenue enhancement, with exceptional sales & marketing strategies.Appointed by the Tourism Cabinet Secretary – to the Taskforce on the establishment and operationalization of the National Convention Bureau (NCB) – November 2016 Tourism Committee member – American Chamber of Commerce, a member of Kenya Women Association in Tourism and SKAL. She is also a certified Business Acumen (CHBA) by Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International.
Jacinta Nzioka Mbithi
Jacinta is a senior executive in Kenya’s public sector tourism industry. She is currently the Director of Marketing at the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB)charged with the responsibility of leading Kenya’s global marketing strategy. With over 15 years experience in Destination Marketing at the tourist board, she has led several projects and initiatives to turn around the sector and position Kenya globally as a preferred tourist destination and achieving recognition of KTB as Africa’s Best Tourism Board 6 years consecutively. Jacinta’s warm and charismatic demeanor and well-known passion for her work earned her a steady rise to the top of the tourism board and is a familiar face in most global events where Kenya tourism is represented.
Within the East African region, her contribution as a member of the Joint Tourism Marketing Committee that led to achievements of Marketing Destination East Africa cannot be understated.Last year, Jacinta was appointed by the World Tourism Forum, Lucerne as Africa’s first Advisory Board member and is South Africa’s CEO Global winner for 2017 “Africas Most Influential Woman in Public Sector Agencies”.
Jacinta is a member of the International Women Corporate Directors(WCD), Women in Tourism International (WITIA), one of the founding Executive Directors of the Kenya Association of Women in Tourism (KAWT), and a Board member of the Ecotourism Kenya (EK) the association championing sustainable tourism in Kenya.She holds a Masters of Business Administration in Strategic Management, Bachelors degree in Tourism Management, Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing and has undertaken several professional executive courses in Leadership, Project management, and international relations among others.Her passion for cultural tourism and sustainable development has seen her participate in various international conferences and forums as speaker, mentor, and presenter as well as a guest university lecturer.
Nev Jiwani
Nev Jiwani, the Group Managing Director and founder of the award-winning hospitality & tourism marketing brand better known as Go Places™ Kenya™, which has been in existence for more than 25+ years. We own and operate several effective print and online communication platforms which directly link our hotel, restaurant, meeting/conference/event venue and lifestyle product and service partners to their specific target focus groups i.e. the largest databases of potential consumers and buyers (locally, regionally and internationally) all year round. As a proud Kenyan, I would say my passion stems from my ability to shine a bright light on our country as ‘a leading hospitality, tourism and lifestyle destination like no other in the world’.
We are also the proud founders of a unique one-of-a-kind quality enhancing culinary awards programme popularly known as the Chefs Delight Awards™, a platform dedicated to empowering chef and restaurant teams to compete against others within the same categories; where their dining experiences are judged solely on the opinions of their own paying customers (via now an innovative mobile app). What inspires me is my family, my husband who is a role model, my best friend, my strength and my inspiration, and of course my three sons who bring to the table a wealth of expertise, innovation, and technology. Although our brands have achieved a lot over the years, the best is still yet to come.
Anne Murungi
Anne Murungi has been in the hospitality industry for 12 years having grown through the ranks to become the first lady to position 2 most luxurious brands in Kenya namely Hemingways Collection and Kempinski in her capacity as Director of Sales & Marketing. In 2016, she was appointed by the Cabinet Secretary of Tourism to a 7-member Taskforce that came up with the formation of the Kenya National Conventions and Exhibitions Bureau. Anne is currently the MD and Lead Consultant of Hospitality (K) Consult, a firm that provides business, industry and market intelligence to investors intending to invest in the hotel business in Kenya. She also works with hotels to help them evaluate their performance and create systems that increase efficiency and maximize profits. The 36-year-old mother of 1 is best described as a dynamic leader, intelligent and focused.
Achievements:• 2017 AKWAABA Top 100 Women in Tourism and Travel in Africa • 2016 Cabinet Secretary appointment to the Taskforce to establish Kenya’s National Convention Bureau • Launching and positioning of 2 most luxurious and best-performing hotels in Kenya – Hemingways Nairobi & Villa Rosa Kempinski
Judy Gona
Judy is a sustainable tourism advocate, planner, advisor, assessor and trainer with over 20 years’ experience in working with the tourism sector, communities, conservation. She has made significant contributions, locally in development of criteria and standards for sustainable tourism certification, key among them being the Kenya eco-rating scheme for accommodation facilities, the Kenya Safari Codes, the Eco-warrior Awards and the Kenya Green Destinations Guidelines. In recognition of her competencies, Judy has served as a judge and assessor for the Kenya/s Eco-Warrior Award, World Travel and Tourism Council Tourism for Tomorrow Awards from 2008.
In 2014, she was appointed a judge of National Geographic Nat Geo World Legacy Awards.Her expertise, passion, and commitment have also seen her serve in several profiled positions. At global and regional level, she has served on the Advisory Board of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) for more than 5 years, served on the board of Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)and was part of conceptualization of Africa Sustainable Tourism Alliance together with Fair Trade Tourism South Africa (FTTSA). She is a board member of Fair Trade Tourism FTT. In Kenya, she serves as Director at African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW), Trustee/chairperson of Basecamp Foundation Kenya (BCFK), and chairperson of Mara North Conservancy making her first woman to be appointed the chairperson of a community conservancy.
In 2013, she founded Sustainable Travel & Tourism Agenda (STTA) an advisory organization that uses education, research, and training to advocate for speedier uptake sustainable tourism. STTA tracks sustainability trends and contributes to knowledge while offering practical solutions to tourism agencies on integrating sustainable tourism in conceptualization, planning, implementation/ operations, documenting and evaluating tourism. STTA is a publisher of East Africa sustainable tourism report, convener of annual Africa Green Tourism Summit, founder, and host of monthly inter-university seminars on sustainable tourism.
Josephine Fifi Rurangwa
From her humble beginning in Uganda working for Gorilland Safaris to senior positions in British Airways, Bralirwa (Heineken) and MTN to successfully launch and ran Rwandair operations in central and West Africa (Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, and Nigeria). She acquired valuable experience in Travel, Aviation, Media, Telecom and FMCG industries in the past 23 Years. She is now Head of Africa Expansion and Airlines Partnerships at Wakanow.com, a leading African Online Travel Agency that has embarked on an expansion across the African continent. She has earned the title of key African Ambassador by relentlessly promoting African destinations, supporting African carriers and promoting travel for Africans by Africans to Africa. With her leadership skills and passion for customer satisfaction, Fifi is bold and visionary, dares to dream big and inspire others towards moving tourism to the next level. She operates one rule; don’t leave anyone behind. She is passionate about promoting women in tourism.
Farzana Dhanji
Farzana is a multi award-winning travel influencer, brand ambassador and founder of Aryan Tours (Aryantours.com). as a Kenyan/Canadian she is passionate about the African Continent.Promoting and advocating for tourism on #Africatravelchat and @africatravelch2 weekly on various social media platforms has gained the respect of her followers and many tourism influencers. She was recently scored above 64/100 on KLOUT giving her a score of top 5% influencers.
AWARDS: 2016 Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE) Twitter Warrior Award, 2017 Kilifair Bloggers Award, 2017 AKWAABA travel Market 100 African Women in Travel
Ms.Charity Githinji
Charity Githinji is a seasoned Brand Management and Marketier with extensive knowledge in the Hospitality industry for over 25 years. She has turned around businesses through capitalizing on the strengths of human capital through training and networking with Corporate, Tour Operators and International organizations.She works with the teams to bring out the best marketing strategies and channels to bear fruit over time. Innovation, creativity, team empowerment, and passion are critical components of building a strong brand she believes.
Charity has been instrumental in stimulating the private sector in Tanzania’s tourism sector to embrace diversity in tourism products within the region as well as partnering with bodies such as East African Tourism Platform in representing Tanzania in various forums. She has and continues to extensively work with Ministries and tourism bodies in respective countries to network and create partnerships aimed at harnessing business. She has further moved her focus to Intra-Africa Tourism through Team Africa and other related bodies to thrusting her to the continental level.
Her position as Team Africa’s representative in Tanzania as well as that of East Africa Tourism Platform is purely on merit after both organizations realized that she has the capability and network to promote intra-regional and intra-Africa tourism to boost tourism in the region and Africa.With her tagline “Excellence in all my interactions”, she commits to service deliverables to position or re-sition brands. She is a strong believer in building partnerships for growth purposes. She was recently recognized as one of the Top 100 Women Leaders in Tourism in Africa and has previously been acknowledged by Tanzania People Defense Forces for her input in society.www.tandazaafrica.com
Fatma Bashir
Fatma Bashir is the Regional Marketing Manager – Rest of Africa and GCC at the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) with over 20 years experience in Marketing across several service industries including Media, Advertising, and Online Education. In her 7 years in the tourism sector, she has been the brains behind key tourism channel development products such as the Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE), Teketeke Nairobi workshops and the Magical Kenya card. These products have raised the profile of the destination and tourism board both within the region and Africa as a whole and identified strongly with the development of tourism sustainability, knowledge transfer and new revenue channels for new and established tourism operators.
A vibrant and passionate marketer, Fatma believes that Brand Africa is the new frontier for visitors, investors and residents alike. Fatma is a holder of a Bachelor of Education (Fine Art) from the Kenyatta University, an MBA (Strategic Management) from the Nairobi University and Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Source: digital.goplacesonline.com
