The focus of the hospitality industry in Africa has traditionally been on visitors from outside the continent. However, the past decade has seen significant growth in the ranks of middle-class Africans with disposable income and a desire to travel. This panel will focus on the rapidly expanding local and regional tourism sector in Africa and explore the challenges and opportunities it presents.
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RUMIT MEHTA CEO, Immersion Journeys Rumit Mehta was born in Kenya, raised in Tanzania and currently resides in New York City. After working in the design and construction field for 13 years, he decided to invest in the African hospitality and tourism industry in 2004 and eventually founded Immersion Journeys, focusing on customized leisure, adventure and academic tours to Africa and South East Asia. Not an ordinary tour operation, Immersion Journeys has a niche focus on creating unique experiences for their guests beyond the standard tourist itineraries. With Mr. Mehta’s intimate know-how of Africa and South East Asia, he plays a pivotal role in assisting in planning Alumni and University travel abroad programs, and he has worked closely with renowned corporate and academic institutions such as the Harvard Business School, Yale School of Management, Pace University, Babson College, The Africa Channel, The Synergos Institute, Cummins Inc. and Sister Cities International. Immersion Journeys educational division – Immersion Experiences or “IEx” works closely with graduate business schools in developing international travel programs in emerging African counties and India. His knowledge of the local language and connections further reinforces his background. Mr. Mehta is on the Board of Directors of the Africa Travel Association (ATA) and the Association of the Promotion of Tourism in Africa (APTA). He is a guest lecturer at numerous economic development focus groups as well as universities. He holds an undergraduate degree in Architecture and an MBA in International Business from Pace University. |
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ANDREW MURPHY CEO, Eco-Ghana Andrew Murphy is the Co-founder of Eco Ghana, an eco-tourism start-up focused on establishing a chain of luxury eco-lodges in Ghana targeted toward domestic and regional clientele in West Africa. Eco-Ghana is currently raising initial equity. In the interim, Mr. Murphy is the Director of Markets Strategy, Research, and Development at the World Wildlife Fund, where he leads WWF’s efforts to strategically engage corporations on the environmental impacts of their supply chains. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He possesses previous experience leading tourism development projects in Ghana as a change management consultant at Accenture, and as a small enterprise development advisor for the US Peace Corps.
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STHU ZUNGU President, South Africa Tourism Sthu Zungu, a South African national, was appointed President of South African Tourism, North America in October 2007. Prior to her tenure in the US, she served as General Manager of South African Tourism in Milan for four years. Her in-depth international marketing experience began when she was hired by BMW South Africa as a market analyst fresh out of college. She went on to handle corporate planning and strategy and was eventually named the Brand Communications Manager for the MINI. Along the way, she spent a year in Germany working at BMW headquarters in Munich where she completed post-graduate studies in Advanced International Marketing under the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft Scholarship. Born and raised in the province of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, Ms. Zungu studied at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, from which she received a Master of Commerce degree in marketing and a Bachelor of Commerce degree in marketing with honors.
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Panel Moderator SCOTT SHUSTER Scott Shuster, a Producer of NPR’s “All Things Considered” and long-time director of an editorial unit of Business Week, was also an ABC News foreign correspondent working principally in Sub-Saharan Africa for nine years. Mr. Shuster later joined the adjunct faculty of the Columbia School of Journalism and wrote a much-quoted article for the Columbia Journalism Review titled “Foreign Competition Hits the News,” in which he predicted the rise of indigenous African news correspondents who would supplant the work of foreigners like himself. Mr. Shuster is now principally on the lecture circuit moderating public and private discussions for such clients as the Corporate Council on Africa, Microsoft Corporation’s Unlimited Potential corporate division, the Hashemite Royal Court (Government of Jordan), the Government of Dubai, the US Dept. of State, and the UN. Scott Shuster holds an MBA from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. |