Wednesday, 7 April 2021

Ministerial Panel:
Investing in Sustainable Travel and Tourism projects in Africa and restarting the sector in the post Covid-19 era

Thursday, 8 April 2021

Watch the full summit as it was live streamed on the 8 April.

Morning conversations

Economic Outlook: The economic landscape to optimise investment opportunities in the tourism sector in Africa

An enriching dialogue: How vaccination process will contribute to restore trust and a sense of security to restart the travel and tourism sector

Panel Discussion: The changing landscape of capital raising, investment criteria and risk management to attract the ‘right’ investor for your project

Panel Discussion: Rebuilding Africa’s travel and tourism sector while enhancing its resilience

Panel Discussion: The critical need of effectively branding and marketing Africa as a single destination

Investment opportunities: Presentation Tourism Projects in quest of investment

Closing

Education/Professional

Work Experience

Education/Professional

Work Experience

The Mayor of Malaga since 2000, De la Torre was re-elected by absolute majority on three consecutive occasions leading the list of the Partido Popular (PP) party in 2003, 2007 and 2011. He won the elections in 2015 by simple majority, achieving the investiture with the support of the Ciudadanos party. In 2019, he has revalidated the majority by extending it to 14 city council members, being vested mayor with the votes of the PP and the two city council members from the Ciudadanos party with whom he has signed an agreement to govern in coalition.

He is vice president of the Bureau of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) representing the Council of Municipalities and Regions of Europe (CMRE) and other associations since 2012, a position for which he was proposed again in February 2021, and vice president until 2020 of the Euro-Mediterranean Association of Local and Regional Authorities (COPPEM).

He chaired the Finance and Mobility and Accessibility Commission of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP). He has been Vice President of the Andalusian Federation of Municipalities and Provinces and a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Powers of the Council of Europe.

He was the Delegate from Malaga for the UCD party between 1977 and 1982, and a Senator from Malaga for the PP party between 2011 and 2014. He was President of the Provincial Council of Malaga and Minister of Economy, Finance and Tourism of the first Pre-autonomic Board of Andalusia.

He was awarded in 2017 by the French Republic with the Legion of Honour for his role as an exceptional collaborator with France in cultural matters. In 2018, he received the Russian Federation Pushkin Medal for the promotion of cultural ties between Russia and Spain; and in 2019, he was awarded the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Distinction for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendly relations between Japan and Spain.

In 2020, he is appointed a member of the Advisory Council of UNITAR, The United Nations Institute for Training and Research. This agency ensures that the quality standards adopted in accordance with UNITAR’s mandate and UN guidelines are respected and well integrated into all activities of both the agency and the CIFAL Global Network.

John has over thirty years experience in government and media relations and currently works with both English and French speaking countries in Africa in the spheres of tourism and general investment.

John acted as UK external relations adviser to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development from 2001 to 2010, promoting flagship reports such as the World Investment Report.

He has promoted tourism in France to the UK market and published a magazine for the Channel resort of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage.

John has worked as a consultant to several trade associations in the UK and graduated in Modern French Studies at the University of Dundee.

Jean Ives DIAMANA, is the name of the person commonly known as Doctor Diamana. He is a Natural Biomedical researcher and practitioner. A dicipline of the medicine that he conceived and developed through his research on pathologies declared incurable by the conventional medicine. Dr Diamana is also a Christian and Gospel preacher, a work to which he devotes much of his time and resources. He is married and has six children. Born in 1974 in Gagnoa, he did his primary education in Daloa and secondary school in Divo (Ivory Coast).

He was a brilliant student, but unfortunately he abandoned his studies early for lack of financial means because he came from a large and poor family with twelve (12) children of which he was the last born. The death of eight of his elders triggered his consecration to God. Passionate about communication, he will be detected a few years later by a great local politician politician and became his communication officer. It was then he discovered the sad reality of HIV-AIDS, and one of his relatives was infected. Powerless Jean Ives Diamana was tourmented by the sufference to the point of agony of his sister. For him it is inconceivable that there should be uncurable diseases in life.

In 2004 he decided to give up everything and devote himself to the study of plants and diseases declared incurable. He felt this as a divine call. A relentless autodidact, he often calls himself “GOD MADE MAN” as for him all his knowledge comes from God. He then launched himself into research without much means. He overcame difficulties and obstacles of all kinds. After several clinical trials, the results were astonishing and outstanding. This is how Dr. Diamana’s Nature and Health Laboratory came into being in 2008. It is specialised in the treatment of incurable diseases such as: diabetes, hypertension, infertility, prostate hypertrophy, etc.

Today, Doctor Jean Ives Diamana’s unequivocal results make him the pride of his generation, of his country Ivory Coast, of Africa and the whole world. You would discover by browsing his website www.eburneanews.com, all the great testimonies of illings by his care and the products resulting from his research.

Siandou Fofana is the current Ivorian Minister of Tourism.

He has several years of experience in the field of road infrastructure development.

In September 2009 he was appointed Director General of the Road Maintenance Fund (RMF).

Carol has over 33 years’ experience across several diverse industry sectors. Her expertise spans across marketing, exhibition management, events, conferences and venue and facility management.

She was the first-ever female chairperson of the Exhibition and Event Association of Southern Africa [EXSA] and former founder and chairperson of the Association of African Exhibition Organisers (AAXO).

Thanks to Carol’s continued passion, dedication and management, Reed Exhibitions is one of the largest and most successful exhibition and venue management companies in Africa.

Rashid Toefy is currently the Deputy Director General: Economic Operations in the Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

Before joining the department, Rashid was the Managing Director of MCI in Africa. The MCI Group is world’s largest conference and association management company, and brings people together through innovative meetings, events and congresses and provides strategic association management consultancy in 60 cities around the world.

He served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), the leading convention centre in Africa from 2008 to 2014, positioning it as a global leader in sustainability.

He has worked extensively in the travel and tourism industry, both in South Africa and abroad. He spent three years based in Amsterdam, developing business and marketing strategies for travel companies and tourism businesses in over 30 countries, working extensively in Central Europe and Latin America.

Rashid is a member of the United Nations Global Compact Advisory Board in South Africa.

He has a degree in Economics and Environmental Science, as well an MBA from the University of Cape Town with his Masters Dissertation focusing on Collaborative Leadership, balancing discipline and diversity in effective decision making.

Rashid has become a thought leader on sustainability and implementation of triple bottom line principles within an organisation. He has spoken at several conferences, both in South Africa and abroad, about the importance and value of establishing social and environmental consciousness in businesses.

Rashid hates settling for mediocrity, and wants to do profound things that impact positively on all those around him.

He says:

“ we all need to make the following two ancient philosophies part of our lives….the first is the Japanese concept of Kaizen – “continuous improvement” and the second is the uniquely African concept of Ubuntu meaning “I am because we are”.
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