Rui Carreira currently holds the position of Non-Executive Board Member at TAAG Angolan Airlines.

He is a senior, C-level expert in multiple areas such as business management, corporate finance, law, and aeronautics, having been a pilot for 22 years accumulating more than 5,000 flight hours.

He has a deep knowledge of TAAG’s vision, values and history serving the company in the past as Executive Board Member and CEO. His professional background also includes a leadership role, as Managing Director of INAVIC, the regulatory body for air navigation in Angola.

“ Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the London-based International Tourism Investment Corporation Ltd (ITIC) and in partnership with WTM Africa, let us extend our warm welcome to all of you to the African Tourism Investment Summit in Cape Town.

ITIC stands out as an enabler of investments in resilient and sustainable tourism projects all over the world. We work collaboratively with governments, investors and project owners to create joint ventures in developing innovative travel and hospitality facilities, infrastructure and services that are beneficial to all stakeholders, especially the host countries and their peoples by promoting social inclusion.

Today, we are focusing on the African continent since it is a part of the world where opportunities are waiting to be unlocked while climate change is causing disruptions and growing concerns. Fortunately, with the contribution of the ‘Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre’, the African Tourism Investment Summit will act as a point of inflection in paving the way to a more prosperous and sustainable future for the travel and hospitality industry, by preserving the natural beauty of sightseeing places and other attractions through better adaptability and preparedness.

The African Tourism Investment Summit will also explore new ways to finance tourism projects and provide unique insights in creating and closing investments always mindful of the local context.

Looking forward for fruitful and engaging discussions as well as deals.

Warmest regards,  ”

Mr Nene, a renowned economist, has more than 20 years’ experience as a board member and executive officer of public and private companies in a wide variety of industries with a strong track record of building and maintaining stakeholder value. His active role and contribution to a nation building agenda and serving in government positions sees him being held in high regard by captains of industry in private sector and government alike.

Mr Nene is Chairman of the Board of Thebe Investment Corporation and has contributed to some of Thebe’s most strategic decisions made during his tenure as Thebe’s resident advisor from May 2016 to February 2018. Furthermore, in 2020 he was appointed as a Non-Executive Director to the Thebe Board. In addition, he was previously instrumental in driving growth in the Food & Agriculture business unit in his role as Chairperson of Thebe’s single largest controlled investment, Empact Group.

An astute economist, Mr Nene holds a B. Com Honours degree in Economics, an advanced Diploma in Economic Policy from University of Western Cape as well as a Diploma in Marketing Management from DMS, a Certificate in Economic Policy from University of South Africa and a Certificate in Macro and Microeconomics from the University of London.

Mr Nene is Chairman of MC Mining, a Member of the Old Mutual Superfund Management Board and Chairperson of the Pan African Arise Bank. Mr Nene serves as the Non-Executive Director of the newly established SA based Grobank. Further to this he serves in a diverse number of entities as Non-Executive Director.

Mr Nene’s impressive resume showcases his passion for community development and cohesive nation building. He was active in student politics in the mid-1976 and his passion for justice culminated to him serving in parliament and eventually as Deputy Minister of Finance and ultimately Minister of Finance between 2014-2015.

Mr Nene has passion for development especially in his community and continues to play a significant role in steering community projects and being a catalyst for change in the community of Kranskop where he was born.

CEO of the Greater Tygerberg Partnership – Warren Hewitt – is passionate about using Belville’s vibrant urban culture, advanced infrastructure and prime geographical location to bring about a bright and prosperous future for its community. His curiosity, extensive high-level leadership experience and financial flair have allowed him to bring corporate creativity to the world of NPO’s that has seen the Greater Tygerberg Partnership flourish.

Warren’s career has spanned many prestigious positions over the last three decades. In hospitality, his roles included senior financial roles within Southern Sun and at Board level at the Arabella Group. Despite the perfect perks of a career in the luxury hotel, wine and spa industries, Warren soon found the call of new challenges pulling him in pursuit of new opportunities.

Developing his entrepreneurial skills, Warren moved into the retail space and partnered with Super Group Ltd, where he reignited a hardware store and built another box store from scratch, preserving the values of a mom and pop shop but competed with larger brands such as Builders Warehouse. However, once again he found that he sought a greater challenge from his career. He entered the logistics space and was soon appointed as CEO of Laser Logistics, part of the Laser Group, for a period of 6 years and then later as Group Businesses Development Director.

As a specialist in restructuring organisations to increase their efficiency, Warren found that the agility and flexibility of smaller enterprises was more rewarding. Ultimately, this left him seeking a role that was challenging and would allow him to leverage his experience whilst giving him the flexibility to implement his creative corporate strategies.

JP van der Merwe is the Head of Investment Promotion at Wesgro, the Western Cape’s Trade, Investment and Tourism promotion agency.

Having previously worked in economic development consulting, as well as for the Canadian and New Zealand governments in South Africa, JP brings together an in depth understanding of the interconnection between the private and public sectors.

JP has worked extensively on analysing and providing insight to clients on the economic and political operating environments in southern Africa and how these impact on businesses in the region. JP’s work at Wesgro involves the promotion of the Western Cape as an investment destination for both local and foreign businesses, as well as the facilitation of investment into the province.

JP holds a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Sydney and holds two qualifications from the University of Cape Town, namely an Honours in International Relations and a Bachelor of Commerce in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

Mark Sham is the founder and CEO of Like a Tourist which is a travel content platform that seeks to inspire people to act like tourists in their own country.

He is also a prolific writer and you can follow his adventures across all social media platforms.

Mark has also been speaking professionally for the last fifteen years and covers topics like future thinking, education in the workplace, Happiness, and digital marketing.

Eduardo Fairen Soria has been the CEO of TAAG since October 2021. Previously, Eduardo was the CEO of Viva Air Peru (2017 – 2019), Chief Operations Officer (COO), and Senior VP of Maintenance at Viva Air Colombia (2014 – 2017).

With 40 years of experience in the world of Aviation, Eduardo was additionally the Co-Founder of Vueling Airlines in 2004. Eduardo’s experience spans across different senior positions within four continents for companies like Iberia, Lufthansa, DHL, Air Arabia, and CamairCo.

Patricia de Lille was appointed as the Minister of Tourism by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March 2023.

Minister de Lille is a seasoned politician and public servant having has served in all three spheres of government since South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994.

De Lille has been fighting injustice for more than 45 years and was part of the team which led the constitutional negotiations and the team who drafted South Africa’s Constitution.

She is the only South African female politician to start her own political parties and win seats in all three spheres of government. De Lille achieved this feat twice, in 2003 with the Independent Democrats and in 2019 with the GOOD Movement.

De Lille served as the Mayor of Cape Town for seven years between 2011 and 2018 where accountability and clean governance were the cornerstones of her term as the City of Cape Town achieved four consecutive clean audits.

She spearheaded progressive projects such as using infrastructure investment as a lever to spur economic growth, developed the transit-orientated development strategy and many other redress projects such as finalising land restitution cases to reverse the legacy of apartheid spatial planning.

In 2017, De Lille co-authored a book with Craig Kesson titled: “View from the City Hall” Reflections on governing Cape Town.

Patricia De Lille previously served as a board member of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, Chairperson of the Global Parliament of Mayors, Vice-President of the World Energy Cities Partnership and a commissioner for the Global Commission on Economy and Climate. She is an Honorary Member of the Global Parliament of Mayors.

Prior to her appointment as Minister of Tourism, Minister de Lille served as the Minister of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) from June 2019 to March 2023 where her focus was to drive spatial equality, repurposing government’s assets for greater socio-economic value and driving the department’s Green Buildings Policy, clamping down on corruption and ensuring that public land and public buildings were used for public good.

De Lille also spearheaded the Infrastructure Investment Plan, approved by Cabinet in May 2020 which formed an integral part of South Africa’s Economic.

Reconstruction and Recovery Plan

During her tenure as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, De Lille approved the release of thousands of parcels of land for land reform: land redistribution, land restitution and land tenure. Minister de Lille also drove the implementation of infrastructure projects by gazetting of 62 Strategic Integrated Projects in various sectors and 9 Green Hydrogen Projects in terms of the Infrastructure Development Act of 2014. Under the ethos of using public land for public good, during de Lille’s tenure as Minister of DPWI, she also released 14 state owned properties to be used as shelters for victims of gender based violence in 4 provinces.

Under De Lille’s leadership, the DPWI also reduced the number of overdue 30 day payments with the department later achieving between 95 and 99% on time payment rate to service providers.

In her role as the Minister of Tourism, De Lille will use her vast experience as a former mayor of a major tourist destination, Cape Town, to drive destination marketing, increase air access and visitor numbers to South Africa. A key focus for the tourism portfolio will also be to increase the number of jobs created by the sector.

Mireille is the Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities in the Western Cape, serving as the executive authority for the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, and the Provincial Treasury.

Mireille has served as the Chief Whip of the Majority Party in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, and chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on COVID-19, the Programme Authority, and the Parliamentary Oversight Committee.

She has also previously served as the Chairperson for the Community Safety Committee, the Conduct Committee, and has been a member of the Budget Committee for 8 years.

This extensive experience on a variety of portfolios has enabled Mireille to develop a deep understanding of the policy challenges that the Western Cape and South Africa face.

Her experience as Chair of the COVID-19 Ad Hoc Committee, in particular, positions Mireille well to lead the post-pandemic economic recovery.

A champion of innovation at the Provincial Parliament, Mireille is passionate about economic growth and job creation. She believes in inspiring fresh, new ideas, and building partnerships with the private sector, and other levels of government, to get the job done.

Mireille has a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of Stellenbosch, and a Master of Philosophy in Criminology, Law and Society from the University of Cape Town. She has also completed the Programme in Political Science and Sociology at Sciences Po (L’Institut d’études politiques de Paris) in France.