Ariella Kageruka is Head of Tourism and Conservation for The Rwanda Development Board.
The Rwanda Development Board was set up by bringing together all the government agencies responsible for the entire investor experience under one roof.
Ariella is tasked with leading the conservation efforts within the tourism vertical and has had great success in connecting public, private and community programmes across Rwanda.
Zephanie Niyonkuru is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a Government of Rwanda entity tasked to transform Rwanda into a global hub for business and innovation by fostering an attractive investment environment, enabling regional and global exports, as well as creating jobs.
Mr. Niyonkuru holds a Master’s degree in Finance (Economic Policy) from the University of London, School of Oriental of African Studies (SOAS). He obtained a diploma in private sector development from the Swedish Institute of Public administration and completed training in management of economic development zones in developing countries at the Jiangxi College of Foreign Studies in China. He also holds a CFA level 1 certificate and is a member of the CFA Institute.
Prior to his appointment as Deputy CEO of RDB, Mr. Niyonkuru had a worked in the private and public sector and led projects for development partners.
Mr. Niyonkuru was the lead Analyst and Operations Manager at Offshore Technology Focus Group (OTF) for mining (extractive industry), mining services, and dairy products. later on he was promoted to lead all finance, logistic, IT and HR operations including dedicating part of his time supporting research activities.
He had initially worked for RDB as a Strategy expert and Acting Head of the Planning Division. He provided technical support to the CEO and heads of departments on investments, exports and job creation strategic matters. He subsequently spearheaded the establishment of a legal and regulatory framework for Special Economic Zones in Rwanda. He also provided technical support for the establishment of policy framework for the same schemes (SEZs & EPZs) to the East Africa Community Secretariat and later on led corporate strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation activities.
After his time at RDB, he became a ESPartners Associate where he carried out consultancies related to strategy, entrepreneurship, and export development among other things for public and private sector clients across East and West Africa. He led quantitative modelling (financial and economic models) and spearheaded main consultations with stakeholders.
Mr. Niyonkuru carried out research related to the status of inspection and competition across food and drugs in Rwanda to inform the establishment of the Rwanda FDA as part of a short term consultancy for the World Bank Group.
He designed for the Rwandan Ministry of Finance (MINECOFIN) a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the first generation of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST 1). He subsequently trained more than 300 employees from the public sector on how planning, M&E activities for NST1 will be carried out. He later on formulated the overall M&E matrix to track performance of different NST 1 indicators across economic, social and governance clusters.
Mr. Niyonkuru was then named Country Representative to Rwanda for the USAID East Africa Trade & Investment Hub where he oversaw all the activities of the project in Rwanda. The project facilitated companies from agro processing, footwear, home decor and fashion accessories to penetrate and/or increase their sales in the export markets with a special focus on the East Africa and the United States of America. Additionally, he supported companies in raising financing allowing them to expand their activities and meet orders from buyers in the export market.
Nicolatte is the current Global CEO for the ZimAchievers Awards. An International organization that recognizes the excellence of African individuals in the diaspora She heads 7 countries , USA, UK, South Africa , Botswana , Dubai, Canada Australia and Zimbabwe.
Nicolatte is a passionate pan african youth development specialist, with over 10 years experience in youth marketing and business development strategy.
With a well vested interest in African practical solutions, Nicolatte practices and teaches on Food security, Climate Change , Sustainability & Nation Adaption plans for African countries.
She advocates on the importance of African youth dialogue and inter African political and socio economic relations and African tourism , because our biggest potential lies within trading within Africa.
Makhosazane is the founder of Allegro Enterprises, a Pan-African management consulting and advisory firm headquartered in Johannesburg. A Chartered Accountant by profession, in her early career she worked as a statutory reporting accountant for JSE-listed companies as well as a corporate finance lecturer before pursuing her entrepreneurial ventures.
A student of the University of Johannesburg, Makhosazane is currently completing her Masters’ degree in Accountancy where her research focus is on corporate governance and capital markets. She serves as a member of the audit and risk committee of the Institute of Business Advisors of South Africa (IBASA), and has recently joined the Gauteng Innovation Advisory Panel of the KTN Global Alliance.
Makhosazane is passionate about developing, scaling and commercialising technological innovations and businesses that solve societal problems and empower African women entrepreneurs.
Amanda Mvinjelwa is the Key Account Manager for Airlines and Government Agencies at Cape Town International Airport, working for Airports Company South Africa.
p style=”text-align: justify;”>Amanda believes the Travel is the only to transform any economy and will make it sustainable for the future. p style=”text-align: justify;”>Amanda has worked at different part of the travel sector including travel agencies creating innovation ways to service the traveling clients and garnishing unique partnerships for the sector. p style=”text-align: justify;”>Amanda is a trained Tax Practitioner and a Green Belt Six Sigma certified practitioner. p style=”text-align: justify;”>Amanda holds a BCom in Industrial and Organisational Psychology in from the University of South Africa (UNISA).
Dr. Taleb Rifai
Chairman of ITIC and
former Secretary-General of UNWTO
ITIC is pleased to be in partnership with RX South Africa and World Travel Market Africa to organize the African Tourism Investment Summit in with host City of Cape Town from the 11 to the 13 April 2022, will offer a unique opportunity to showcase the changing face of Africa and how certain countries are leading the way in transforming this bubbling continent
The Summit will extend its reach and gain more leverage in the global tourism industry especially in the current Covid-19 context where initiators of future developments are increasingly looking for alternative, less risk- wary sources of finance.
The ITIC – WTM African Tourism Investment Summit will focus on a number of topical issues which are highly critical in the decision-making process of investors, fund managers, venture capitalists and other financiers in screening projects.
The themes to be discussed by Africa’s leading Ministers of Tourism, policy makers, tourism professionals… try to address and propose solutions on climate change, sustainability, intra-Africa air connectivity but also the digital divide that is hindering the technological adoption in some parts of Africa …
This continent has always been a land of untapped opportunities which only need to be unleashed. The time has come for us to trigger the impetus for a new start of Africa’s tourism industry.
ITIC, the International Tourism Investment Corporation, has a medium and long- term plan to the growth of the travel and tourism industry by facilitating and channeling investments in the continent. We have spared no effort to support the realization of tourism projects throughout the world especially in Africa by connecting financiers as well as investors to project owners/developers while undertaking in parallel advisory and feasibility studies.
Furthermore, as honorary patron of the African Tourism Board, I am convinced that through synergistic actions, we can unite African States to join forces in branding the continent as a destination offering a diversity of out of the ordinary experiences, going beyond traditional wildlife to appeal to a wider audience of international travellers. I look forward for a highly fruitful Summit that would benefit to the greatest number in Africa.
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Luis Millán has a keen understanding of traveller behaviour and industry trends, which he has honed over more than six years at ForwardKeys – a company that provides market insights for traveller-focused businesses by analysing more than 17 million flight-booking transactions per day.
In his current role as Head of Research, Luis uses his considerable knowledge of travel and data analytics to assist destination marketing organisations, hotels, travel retail brands and other travel industry players in adopting data-driven strategies for tourism planning.
As well as supporting ForwardKeys clients, Luis shares his unique insight with the media and global audiences at travel industry events. Before joining ForwardKeys, he gained international experience as a trade consultant and business developer. He holds a BA in Journalism and Communication Studies from the University of Valencia and an MBA from Menéndez Pelayo International University.
Nomasonto Ndlovu has a passion for brands.
With more than ten years of classical brand marketing experience gained within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, specifically at Unilever South Africa, Nomasonto Ndlovu had the honour to work on various local and global brands in various positions over the years.
Nomasonto Ndlovu has a mixture of private and public sector experience, including working at Standard Bank, SA Tourism, City of Tswane and Limpopo Tourism. She has just joined Transnet, SA largest logistics company.
Destination Brand Strategist | Passionate about Tourism | MICE | Public Speaking | Mentor | MICE | Golfer
Ms Sthembiso Dlamini, the former Chief Operating Officer at South African Tourism, has 18 years of public management experience, 9 of which were at an executive leadership level. She is a trustee of the Endangered Wildlife Trust and currently serves as an Executive Director on the Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA) Board as the new CEO.
Sthembiso joined Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA) in December 2021. She is responsible for marketing and positioning Gauteng as a tourist destination of choice and a competitive global city region across Africa and the World.
In her new role, she is accountable for the overall management of the GTA operations by providing strategic leadership and sound advice across the various operational units within the GTA. Critical to her new role as the GTA CEO, she is tasked, amongst others, to ensure the sustainability and sound governance of the GTA and to deliver on the mandate of the GTA Board and the shareholder.
Before joining Gauteng Tourism Authority, Sthembiso was a Chief Operating Officer at South Africa Tourism (SAT), managing a portfolio of R700 million and over 80 employees and was later asked to act as the CEO.
As ACEO, Sthembiso provided strategic vision and leadership to the destination marketing organisation and ensured that South African Tourism operated according to international best practices and relevant legislations.
Prior to these, Sthembiso was employed as the COO, a role she had occupied since August 2012, and has worked for the South African Revenue Service (SARS) as acting director of corporate affairs from 2007 to 2012.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Criminology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Project and Programme Management. She is currently busy with her Research Report to complete a Mcom in Programme Management at the Cranefield College of Project and Programme Management.
Kojo Bentum-Williams is the Founder and Publisher of Africa’s leading travel and tourism Media VoyagesAfriq Travel Magazine and Media. A communication professional with over 12 years in working in travel and tourism trade. His cross-cutting knowledge in the industry include working as PR official at the Ghana Tourism Authority and Press Secretary to Ghana’s Former Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture.
He is currently the Senior Expert for Communications in Africa for the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
He has regularly contributed to a number of Tourism publication and reports including the annual Africa Tourism Monitor Report published by the Africa Development Bank (AFDB), New York University Africa House Journal and Casa Africa’s Encounter with African Journalists in Spain.
Kojo has worked closely with a number of African Tourism Ministers and CEOs of National Tourism Boards in Africa as well as the Africa’s Tourism Private Sector.