Safiyya Akoojee - Affiliate Partner

Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Fortunatus Advisory LLC, Safiyya is a Dubai based South African Attorney & advisory professional, with more than thirteen years of law practice experience, coupled with business interests spanning FMCG, real estate, tourism and including wild game conservation.

Safiyya is a dynamic, performance driven professional who has held leadership posts in multiple businesses and provides global expertise with legal insights to advise businesses and executives alike. Safiyya has an acute business acumen and foresight allowing her to advise her clients on the intricacies of cross border transactions and offshore establishment.

Having gained a significant amount of experience representing various businesses & industry sectors. Fortunatus Advisory has mandates representing clients in multiple diverse sectors of the economy including oil, gas & energy; travel, tourism & hospitality; food manufacturing; real estate & construction sectors. Representing high net worth clients through Africa & the Middle East, securing foreign direct investment, and advising on offshore strategy providing a complete suite of services, Safiyya is an astute legal & private advisor.

Safiyya previously had success in completing foreign direct investment transactions, and practicing in commercial and corporate law matters, both litigious and non-litigious. Having successfully advised and represented international trade, company formation specialty and offshore company strategy. Safiyya worked as Director of Thomson Wilks Inc. in association with DWF for thirteen years as the sole international attorney, focused on Middle East strategy & legal consulting.

She speaks regularly at conferences on international investments and the international legal environment & regulations supporting business opportunities, whilst overcoming cross border and governmental challenges, in an ever-increasing multicultural society.

She has also served as President of the South African Business Council, Dubai U.A.E as and represented South Africa in procuring foreign direct investment.

Safiyya holds multiple degrees in Bachelor of Arts (Law, International Relations, English), University of Witwatersrand; Bachelor of Laws (LLB), University of South Africa; Post Graduate Certificate, Commercial & Corporate Law, University of London (awarded merit*); Post Graduate Diploma, Banking & Finance Law, University of London (awarded merit*); Masters of Law (LLM), Banking, Finance & Corporate Law, University of London

Connect with Safiyya Akoojee
Website:
www.fortunatusadvisory.ae
Linkedin:
Linkedin.com/in/Safiyya-akoojee-449817a1
Email:
Safiyya@fortunatusadvisory.ae

Giju Varghese - Affiliate Partner

Giju was born in Ethiopia and completed his school in Zambia. When his family moved to South Africa in 1983, Giju continued his higher education in India where he completed a bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management, from the Mangalore University, (India).

After several years of managing hotels, and establishments on similar fields, his expertise, interest and career took a focus on organizational development and turnaround. He then went on to receive an MBA (De Montfort University, UK) and continued his career focus to a broader industry base.

Giju’s technical understanding of the tourism industry has made him an authority in Public Private Partnership especially in the nature based tourism environment. His career as the head of business development with the South African National Parks for 14 years ensured the principles of responsible tourism were achieved through public-private partnerships arguably at a higher level than any other organization in the nature-based tourism field. The projects in SANParks ranged from restaurants, retail, safari lodges, hotels, the cable car in Cape Town, the Cape Point Partnership, nature based activities and the Skukuza Airport. He has made presentations on various forums including the UN - Brazil, Several UNWTO meetings in Gabon, Congo, Mozambique, Responsible Tourism – India and spoken to various delegations from all countries from all continents. He has represented SANParks at media briefings and authored a chapter in an international publication forwarded by the UNWTO.

The success of the division led to Giju playing the role of Managing Executive: Tourism Development and Marketing, where tourism operations, sales & marketing, tourism research and the loyalty program, where he was exposed and represented the organization at the MIPTECH and MINMEC meetings, and to the parliamentary portfolio committee.

Realizing the need to apply such principles to a broader base, Giju recently (August 2016) left the SA National Parks. He has started Bhoomi Yatra – a specialist Responsible Tourism Strategy Consulting organization. (Bhoomi Yatra is a Sanskrit word meaning Earth Journeys – as the focus of the company is on Responsible Travel). He advises the Mozambican Tourism organization on behalf of the World Bank where he leads a team from Ernst & Young.

Giju’s knowledge of the public sector requirements and hands on understanding of the private sector is unique where sectors and countries are collaborating towards a common goal. Giju is in a continuous quest for innovation – products, processes and people management.

Tom Buncle - Affiliate Partner

Tom Buncle is Managing Director of Yellow Railroad Ltd., an international destination consultancy that helps countries, cities and regions to improve their competitiveness as tourism destinations. He has worked for clients in the UK, Europe, Africa, Middle East, North America and the Caribbean. Tom established Yellow Railroad in 2000.

Tom has over 35 years’ experience in tourism marketing, branding, development and place-shaping on four continents (UK/Europe, North America & Caribbean, Asia, Africa & Middle East). Prior to establishing Yellow Railroad Tom spent 4 years as Chief Executive of the Scottish Tourist Board (STB, now Visit Scotland). Before that, he was International Marketing Director at STB and ran British Tourist Authority (now Visit Britain) operations in Southeast Asia, Norway and California.

Tom has worked on consultancy projects in the UK, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Caribbean:

Destination branding and marketing strategy development: Namibia, Cameroon, Kenya, Mozambique, Gabon, Rwanda, Southern Africa, Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia, Bosnia, Serbia, Belarus, Norway, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France;
Destination management planning, place-shaping, tourism policy, sustainable/community-based tourism, and organisational restructuring: Dominica, Barbados, Eastern Caribbean States, Lithuania, Georgia, Iceland, England, Northern Ireland, Commonwealth Games;
Crisis recovery: Britain after 9/11, England after Foot & Mouth Disease, UNWTO trainer.
Tom lectures at universities and business schools in the UK and Europe, and is a regular speaker at international conferences on global travel trends, place branding, and destination marketing. He also writes for academic textbooks and business publications on these subjects. He authored the definitive Handbook on Tourism Destination Branding, published in 2009 by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and European Travel Commission (ETC).

Tom has served on several boards as a non-executive director in the fields of tourism, branding, marketing, culture and the natural environment, including: the Edinburgh International Festival Council, the Cairngorm Partnership (Scotland’s second national park) and Scotland the Brand. He was an adviser to the UK Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) on the European Capital of Culture 2008 award, and is a former member of Contact Singapore’s European Panel (formerly the guardian and promoter of Singapore’s international image). He is a Fellow of both the UK Tourism Society and the UK Tourism Management Institute, a member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Panel of Experts, a member of the Experts’ Committee of the World Tourism Cities Forum (China), and a member of the Sustainable Tourism Certification Alliance (Africa).

Tom started his tourism career as a tour guide in Europe, after obtaining a degree in Law and Sociology followed by an MA in Criminology – an interest he pursued as a non-executive member of the Scottish Prison Service Risk Monitoring and Audit Committee for 10 years.

Cuthbert Ncube - Non-Executive Director

Cuthbert Ncube started his career after graduating in Business Management. He became driven to be an entrepreneur that saw him pioneering Kwela Fleet Management (Kwela) that has since gone on to be a leading tourism services company. Cuthbert Ncube is the Chief Executive of Kwela Fleet Management.

In 2008 after seeing the potential growth in the tourism services sector, Kwela Europa was born in Lisbon Portugal on a co-ownership set up. He acquired Golden feathers Lodge (4 star graded) in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.

In 2013 Kwela Fleet Management was accepted as an Affiliate Member to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation which is an organ of the United Nations. In the same year of 2013 during the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly in Zambia, Mr Ncube was elected as the Regional Vice - President of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Affiliate Members - Africa and also serves as a Board Member.

He is a Non-Executive Director and serves as a Vice-Chairperson of STEMISA as well as Sustainable Tourism Partnership Programme.

In September 2015 at the Plenary Session of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly in Madeline Columbia, Mr Ncube was re-elected as a Regional Vice President of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Affiliate Members unopposed.

He currently serves on numerous boards.

Juergen Steinmetz - Affiliate Partner

Juergen Steinmetz, originally from Germany, moved to Hawaii in 1988 and has been living on Oahu’s North Shore since 1992. A travel and tourism industry veteran, Mr. Steinmetz has been in the business since 1977.

Mr. Steinmetz is also the co-founder and publisher of eTurboNews (also known as ETN), a global travel industry newswire with a circulation of over 230,000 travel and tourism professionals in more than 100 countries. Since the inception of Hawaii-based eTN in 1999, it has become one of the most formidable and influential global travel and tourism publications today. To date, eTN is the oldest Internet-based travel and tourism publication that is currently in existence.

For the last ten years, Mr. Steinmetz has represented the global travel and tourism media at the United Nations World Tourism Organization Task Group dealing with sexual exploitation of children.

He was also an industry board member of PATA (Pacific Travel Association), and chairman of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners, a global organization with tourism board members promoting Green Growth and Quality.

Currently Mr. Steinmetz is the president and CEO of eTN Corporation, the owner of eTurboNews, TravelWireNews, Meetings.travel, Aviation.travel, TravelIndustryDeals, WorldTourismWire, Suites.travel, the German language services and Duesseldorf based eTurboNews.de and also the main shareholder of New York based TravelMarketingNetwork.

Miller Motola – Non-Executive, Tourism Leadership Forum

With a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of the North, Miller Matola began his career as a lecturer at Vista University where he worked for four years. During this time, he obtained a BA Honours (Cum Laude) from the University of Potchefstroom. Thereafter he took on a project management course whilst working as a Project Manager at Technikon in South Africa.

He was then awarded a scholarship by the United States Agency, for international development, to travel to the US amongst others as part of the USAID South Africa- Namibia Institute. Upon his return to South Africa in 1996, Miller was assigned to design a tourism course, which fuelled his interest in the tourism sector. Since then he has worked with various organizations in Executive positions in the tourism and hospitality industry, including working with the Department of Tourism, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife KZN, Tourism Grading Council of SA, Durban Chamber of Commerce and the International Convention Center Durban, amongst others.

Miller Matola was the Chief Executive Officer of the International Marketing Council: Brand South Africa in 2010 to 2015. His passion and commitment to his work is evident in the numerous awards which he has received, such as the Kaelo-ABSA award for achievement (in 2004 and 2011), Leading Managers Awards (2009), to name a few.

Jerome Touze – Non-Executive Director, Tourism Leadership Forum

Jerome Touze, 36, is the Co Founder and COO of WAYN.com (Lastminute.com Group), the largest travel and lifestyle social media platform with over 23 million members worldwide and growing at over 2,500 members daily. The platform generates over 50 million visitors annually. In 2006, he led a partial sale of the business to DFJ Esprit, a Venture Capitalist firm based in Cambridge, for $11 million and attracting investment from eminent Internet Founders such as Brent Hoberman (lastminute.com), Hugo Burge (Cheapflights.co.uk), and Andy Phillips (Active Hotels). He was responsible for implementing the main revenue channels and signing key strategic partnerships with Booking.com, Google and India Today Group.

WAYN.com won UK Website of the year in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015 and won the prestigious World Travel Award in 2013 and 2015.

Jerome has gained a lot of experience in fund raising and led a Series B capital raise with Scottish Equitable Partners in 2012 for $5 million. In September 2016, he led the sale of WAYN to the Lastminute.com Group. He was an ''Enterprising Young Brits” Finalist as Business Entrepreneur of the Year and“Young Gun” class of 2007. Jerome was also commended for Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 at the UK Technology Innovation and Growth Awards and a Finalist at the Ernst & Young London Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Prior to founding WAYN.com, Jerome was a Senior Consultant at Accenture in London where he worked in the Communications and High Tech division for clients such as Microsoft and BT. Jerome holds a Management degree from Kedge Business School and a Business and Economics degree (BA Honors) from the University of Westminster with a major in Finance.

Elise Milenge, Managing Partner – Rwanda

Elise joined Charleston Travel Rwanda Ltd. as a travel expert with over 25 years experience in the international travel and tourism industry. Her background extends from customer service and airport passanger handling, to airline representation and tourism in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and USA.

She is a highly self-motivated leader with a proven record of exeptional leadership, mentorship and multi-tasking skills. Elise has the ability to keep a level head at all times, deliver innovative new solutions to challenges and also nurture a business to make it a dynamic and progressive organization. She possesses excelent client facing and configuration skills and has established sustainable and profitable relationships with customers, suppliers and Stakeholders.

Elise has been actively involved in the strategic development of the Rwanda travel and tourism industry. Raised and educated in Uganda and Kenya, Elise now lives with her family in Kigali.

Elise sat on the board of directors of Rwanda's national airline, Rwandair from 2002 - 2012. She has also served as the Vice President of the CHamber of Tourism in the Rwanda PRivate Sector Federation, as well as the Vice Chair of the Rwanda Tours and Travel Association.

Adedayo Adesugba , Managing Partner - Nigeria

Adedayo is an experienced Hotelier and Restaurateur who has been in the industry for upward 39 years. After his secondary school education at the C.M.S. Grammar School in Lagos, he attended Kwara State College of Technology, Ilorin where he graduated with an H.N.D. in Catering and Hotel Management in 1982.

In 1985, he was employed by the Sheraton Corporation as one of the pioneer staff of their new hotel in Lagos. He obtained an MBA from the Delta International University, Louisiana, USA, in 2009.

He has consulted for many hospitality establishments, including Le Meridien Eko Hotel & Suites. He is a Fellow of the British professional body, Institute of Hospitality (IH) and the Chairman of the Nigeria Branch, a Fellow of the Institute of Tourism Professionals (ITP) and a Fellow of the Nigerian Hotel & Catering Institute, (NHCI).

Adedayo is the CEO of Nexus318 Hospitality Management & Investment Co. Ltd. He has worked as a hotel inspector with BDRC Continental, UK, a renowned hotel audit and research firm. He also lectures hospitality management at the Northeast College, Ireland since January 2017.

Vanessa Baldwin, Managing Partner - Tanzania

Vanessa Baldwin Mushi, Has a background in international business marketing, tourism destination development and management with extensive experience in the tourism industry. With a network of over 15 sub-saharan African countries and organizations across the global community.

She has previously spearheaded sustainable tourism development and conservation projects in various African countries thus partnering with organizations like UNDP(2015), RETOSA and TANAPA(2015). She is market savvy providing a unique client-oriented perspective as a tourism marketer.

She is currently the director of VANDON LUXURY SAFARIS and is passionate about community outreach lending her voice to causes such as Stop Human trafficking, clean water provision in local communities.

Frema Ashkar, Managing Partner – Ghana

Frema Ashkar is a Journalist, a seasoned media practitioner with cross platform experience including radio, TV and Public Relations . Frema is a Philanthropist, Professional MC , Artist Manager and CEO of Fablinksmedia. Frema spent her formative years at St. Monica's Secondary School in Kumasi. She then further her education at University of Ghana where she holds a degree in Radio/Television and Film from the school of Performing arts in Legon.

Frema currently holds, a degree in Radio/Television and Film from the school of performing arts, University of Ghana. She has attended a number of training courses with Canon France Internationale and Voice Of America (VOA). Frema has covered lots of international assignments.

Frema began her professional career in radio at Radio mercury , in Kumasi starting off as an intern where she quickly learnt and became the host of prime time radio program .She moved on to Fox FM also in Kumasi and was a senior radio news presenter and a reporter . Due to her excellent work she was poached in 2007 by TV3, one of Ghana’s leading television stations, to be a senior news anchor and reporter, where she worked for 4years.

She moved on to work with Etv news as the news anchor and presenter for the Breakfast TV and Panorama, a current affairs program. She was the assignments editor from 2011 -2013. Frema went on to become the PR manager for Agams Group (Hope city Project) from 2013 - 2015. She is currently the host of Ghana's most watched morning television program, Good Morning Ghana on METRO TV.

Frema's passion for media has spurred her on to set up her own company, Fablinks which she runs successfully till date. Under her expect guidance, Fablinks ‘ flagship program Utour which is aired on Metro TV every Sunday at 6pm received the best tourism reality show 2016 by the brand and excellence awards. Frema is also one of the most sort after master of ceremonies in Ghana. She has emceed many high profile events in Ghana. Frema is the manager of Ghana's Highlife music sensation Kwabena Kwabena.

Kwakye Donkor - Chief Executive Officer

Kwakye Donkor is a renowned strategist with over 25 years’ experience in strategy formulation, strategic Marketing, brand management and communications. He has demonstrated experience in education, financial services, hotels and hospitality as well as travel and tourism industries. He is skilled and strong in Strategy Formulation, Business Advisory, Leadership Development, Coaching, Digital Marketing and Innovation, Brand Strategy Development, Market Planning, Mega Event Planning, Project Management and Hotel & Resort Development Business Advisory.

Kwakye is the lead professional in ATP’s advisory services team, and leads the ATP’s formulation of tourism strategies, destination marketing strategies and plans, as well as our capacity and skills development assignment.

Prior to joining becoming CEO of ATP, Kwakye worked in senior executive positions at RETOSA, and as the Executive Marketing Director of Plattner Golf (Pty) Ltd t/a Fancourt, one of the leading golf resorts in the world. He has also worked for, among others, Provident Financial (UK and South Africa) and African Bank Investment Ltd (ABIL). He is a Chartered Marketer with a Bachelor Degree in Marketing, Graduate Diplomas in Marketing, Graduate Diploma in Advertising and MBA.