100 women tourism and hospitality professionals are today commencing a three-day training workshop from the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, a Dubai based hospitality center of excellence. 

This vocational training, titled ‘Empowering 100 Women Future Leaders in Hospitality Excellence’, follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Rwanda Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on 8 March 2018.

The training, which ends on 20 March in Nyamata, Bugesera District, aims to impart world class skills in tourism and hospitality and the focus will be on technical skills related to food and beverage service and management, hotel front office operations, customer excellence in hospitality, the role of information technology in the hospitality industry, industry specific communication skills as well as the role of women in improving service delivery. 

Commenting on the training, the RDB Chief Tourism Officer, Belise Kariza said:

“Rwanda has made tremendous strides in the tourism industry over the years but there are areas that still require more improvement. This training will further improve Rwanda’s tourism and hospitality industry in terms of delivering exceptional services. Thanks to our partnership with the UAE, the training will bridge the skills gap in the tourism industry.”

The UAE Ambassador to Rwanda, HE Hazza Mohammed Falah Kharsan Al Qahtani said:

“The United Arab Emirates government was really impressed by the Rwandan government’s policy of promoting gender equality and especially empowering women in all sectors. We want to support this endeavor in the tourism and hospitality industry which is a major contributor of both job creation and income generation for many countries including Rwanda.

Rwanda has demonstrated its world-class ability to promote women’s empowerment through achieving the highest number of women parliamentarians worldwide. We believe that Rwanda will be able to apply this ability to empower women to the hospitality industry with similar levels of success. The UAE is honoured to play a role in helping Rwanda further develop this capacity, through sharing our own experience in this area, which will ultimately help to increase both the quantity and the quality of tourism to Rwanda”.

The Emirates Academy of Hospitality is known for its excellence within the field of Hospitality Management education. The trainers, Helen Morris, Executive Chef / Senior Lecturer and Marina Rizzi, Director of Industry Relations and International Office, have extensive experience in the field of global hospitality.