18 May 2022

Experts remain fundamental in steering growth of the tourism and hospitality industry, which are major players in Botswana’s economy. 

It was on such a backdrop that Limkokwing University and Hilton Garden Inn signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday with a view to equip learners with skills and knowledge needed in the 21st century business environment.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Limkokwing vice chancellor, Dr Raphael Dingalo, said the industry was looking for skillful, business-savvy human resource who can plan, control, make strategic decisions and understand legal requirements of the sector hence the need for strategic partners such as Hilton Garden Inn.

“Tourism has been and continues to be one of Botswana’s fundamental economic sectors, having contributed greatly to government revenue and boosted important macro businesses,” Dr Dingalo said. 

He further stated that tourism was a key contributor to job creation, with the sector employing more than 90 000 people and was also a fundamental contributor to skills transfer as well as development of new competencies.

He said since the sector and its different sub-sectors were not only about theory but hands-on practice, it was against such backdrop that Limkokwing had coined a phraseology ‘indusity’.

“Indusity is a phrase which entails strengthening our relationship with the industry on the understanding that there is need for strengthened relationship between institutions and industry so as to give our learners the requisite hands on practice,” he said.

He indicated that it was through the concept of ‘indusity’ there was need to engage with and sign a MoU with Hilton Garden Inn would result in a win-win situation for all the stakeholders in the tourism segment and its sub-sectors.

Moreover, Dr Dingalo stated that some of the obligations in the performance of services under the MoU involved providing Hilton Garden Inn with graduates or interns to acquire industrial experience as well as providing the hotel with staff up-skilling or upgrading services with affordable fees or cost sharing collaborative.

For her part, Hilton Garden Inn Gaborone human resources manager, Ms Katso Mokgosi said Hilton’s future, which started with young people, depended on resilient and thriving societies.

“This can only be realised if we invest in and empower the next generation. It is for this reason that partnerships like these are important as they give us the first step to achieving this goal,” Ms Mokgosi said.

She also stated that the MoU was even more important because the tourism and hospitality industry had taken a knock with COVID-19 and there was a need all the more, to work on attracting talent to the industry.

She further expressed that through the same agreement, Hilton had committed to have diversity in their placements, in terms of mixed abilities, cultural and gender diversity which all fed into their travel with purpose goals as a brand.

Highlighting some of the objectives of the MoU, Ms Mokgosi said the hotel would provide graduates or interns with an internship programme which may lead to permanent employment and provide Limkokwing University with feedback on their (graduates) progress and performance.

“We will also serve as the university industry advisors especially on the trends in the hospitality and tourism industry,” she said. ends