Follow Us on Google
With Okorie Uguru
Participants from more than 13 countries are expected in Lagos next week for the 8th edition of the Hotel Managers Conference Africa (HMCA). The conference will bring together top hospitality industry practitioners from the academics, hotel chains and tourism administrators from both the public and the private sectors.
The Convener of the conference, Mr. Olugbenga Sunday Omotayo while speaking with the press, said the conference, now in its eight year, has helped to transform the Nigerian hospitality landscape, and hopes to take it to other parts of Africa. He said: “We started this conference in 2016, in Akwa Ibom State precisely. We did the first three editions, and then we moved it to Port Harcourt for the 4th edition. That was in 2022. We lost some years to the COVID 19 pandemic. In the fifth edition, we moved to Owerri because we used a strategy for this project. We, first of all, want to conquer Nigeria. We want every region to have a taste of the HMCA.”
He said the conference, which started low-key in Uyo, has grown to attract participants from different geopolitical zones of Nigeria and some regions in Africa to be physically present. Currently, he is hoping to take the conference to other African countries: “We’ve been able to grow the conference to attract participants from all the six geopolitical zones. We have participants from North-East, North-Central, the South-West, South-East, South-South, and every other region we have in Nigeria. In fact, there was an edition where we had participants from 27 states physically present.
“We have had participants coming from West Africa, Central Africa, and Cameroon. We have also had participants coming from East Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Botswana, and Kenya. For the eighth edition, it will come up next weekend, July 11 and 12.”
Omotayo explained that the HMCA gives managers and professionals in the hospitality industry the opportunity to network, cross-fertilise ideas and get the necessary professional exposure: “We come together and have that dialogue. Inside that same hall, we have opportunity for solutions; we have a lot of tech solutions. We have a lot of innovations going on that support our system. It is a big ecosystem that beyond learning, capacity building, having strong panel discussions, we should have that time to find new solutions for the hospitality industry in Africa.”
Another aspect of the conference, he said, is the mentoring sessions and masters classes: “We focus more on capacity building because we feel like that it is an opportunity for some of these managers to be exposed and crossbreed knowledge uh within peers. And then beyond Nigeria, we have hospitality from East African interpretations, the West African interpretations, the Central African interpretations.”
Omotayo said this year’s conference has about 20 confirmed speakers, including Prof Wasiu Babalola, the keynote speaker; Mr. Karl Hala, Group General Manager, Continental Hotels; Mr. Chike Ogeah, Managing Director, Mac Folly Hospitality Limited, owners of Lagos Marriott Hotel; Dr. Michael Pinder, General Manager, JS Signature Hotel, Port Harcourt, and others.
On the impact of the HMCA conference in Nigeria, Omotayo said the annual event has helped in training a new breed of well-trained and exposed hospitality managers in Nigeria: “And inside the conference, we’ll be having the graduation of our students. We did the first one last year when we graduated about 80 students that have completed their course in hotel management and operations. And this time around, we are graduating over 90 students that just finished their programmes. “There will also be an award night where we recognise excellence.”
