Erwan Garnier, Director, Radisson Hotel Group talks about the operator's growth plans in Francophone Africa, why it has such an important significance to their overall 5 year plans and the specific challenges faced when doing developments in Francophone countries.

A new addition to the Bench Events family to drive the company’s ambitions in Africa and the Middle East. Jean Perrochon brings with him valuable insight having worked closely with the investment community in the city of London and spent over 20 years of his life in Côte d'Ivoire.

In this podcast, Thomas Emanuel, Director of Business Development at STR, gives a quick update on the African market. He presents some of the recent findings shared at the AHIF event in Kenya and then, with the recent launch of the FIHA – Forum de l’Investissement Hôtelier Africain, digs deeper into some of the Francophone markets and why they are at an exciting stage of development. 

In this podcast, we speak to Hon. Najib Balala, EGH, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife, Government of Kenya. He explains how the government is supporting tourism and hospitality investments in Kenya. 

In this podcast, we speak to our new sponsors Solarus Sunpower’s Managing Director for Sub Saharan Africa, René Laks. Solarus Sunpower are supporting the AHIF debate on Efficient Building Investment and we asked René what, to date, have been the successes in the hospitality sector and the goals for the business. During the SPACE Seminar, we shall be exploring the practicalities of investing into solutions like solar power and the expected payback time as well – René explains some of the challenges and misconceptions behind these issues.

Daniel Silke, Director of Political Futures Consultancy and AHIF’s Keynote speaker this year is always special to listen to and, in this podcast, we explore how the current world economic situation is influencing Africa. This podcast explores how Africa is responding to the current trade wars globally through to the effects of Chinese economic slowdown. Is Africa showing resilience or is it being battered by the headwinds?

Amos Wekesa, Founder and CEO of Great Lakes Safaris spoke to us about his business and the goals for it.  As a true entrepreneur of the tourism industry what he felt the potential is for the leisure market in Africa and how he, as an influencer, can now do to promote further investment into the sector and to support Uganda’s recovery as a destination. 

In this podcast, we talked to Bani Haddad, Founder and Managing Director of Aleph Hospitality about his journey to setting up his 3-year-old business and why he has concentrated his efforts into the African market. We also asked Bani to talk us through all the different types of management models open to owners and to explain why the 3rd party operator model is such a potentially good one for the African market.

Nick Van Marken, former global head of hospitality for Deloitte, is one of the hotel investment industries most well-known faces. He is currently doing independent work across Africa and, in this podcast, we asked him about what has been keeping him busy since retiring and what is driving his interest in Africa. Nick is moderating a session on Growing the African Brand at AHIF and we asked him why the recent Onomo deal is an important stepping stone for the African market. And, with him interviewing both CEO’s of Hilton and AccorHotels at AHIF – we asked for a sneak preview into what he’ll be asking them. 

David Harper, Head of Property Services at Hotel Partners Africa shares his take on the African market and the Ethiopian business potential. Hotel Partners Africa operates in 50 African countries and 175 countries globally. In this podcast, David also talks about his trip to Antarctica for his 50th birthday! Don't forget to subscribe to receive more hotel investment podcasts.

In this podcast, Wayne Godwin, Vice President, Hotels & Hospitality Group, Sub-Saharan Africa, JLL discusses the impact of market fundamentals in Africa on different categories of investors and their sentiments. He also explains the future of the hotel industry in South Africa for next 3 years based on predictions by economists and recent political changes.

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In this podcast, Kamil Abdul-Karim, MD of Pam Golding Hospitality, discusses the impact that the recent political changes in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa have had on hotel demand.  

As a key advisory firm for the South Africa region Kamil has noted that almost immediately there has been a positive change and he's had to rework predictions immediately.  However, in this podcast we explore the lasting nature of change and whether this is a false dawn in positive sentiments.  

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Managing Director at W Hospitality, Trevor Ward, speaks with Bench Events UK MD Matthew Weihs giving an overview of the Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa Report which is in it's 9th year.

Speaking on the importance of the report, Mr Ward touches on the benefit for investors as well as how the report takes into account future events that may not happen and the themes of 2016.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

Managing Director at W Hospitality, Trevor Ward, speaks with Bench Events UK MD Matthew Weihs giving an overview of the Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa Report which is in it's 9th year.

Speaking on the importance of the report, Mr Ward touches on the benefit for investors as well as how the report takes into account future events that may not happen and the themes of 2016.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

In this podcast Bench Events Managing Director, Matthew Weihs talks to Saleh Said, Director of Pennyroyal Gibraltar Limited. Discussing what is likely to be one of the biggest deals done in East Africa, they talk about the strategy behind and challenges faced the by development of the Zanzibar Amber Resort.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

In this podcast Bench Events Managing Director, Matthew Weihs talks to Elie Younes, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer of the Rezidor Hotel Group. Weeks before the Rezidor Hotel Group hosts the Africa Hotel Investment Forum in Kigali they speak about the Africa as an investment destination, the consumption and control of energy and the group’s vision for Africa.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

Jon Howell, Aviation Specialist at Bench events, recently met with Manish Shrivastava, Co-founder, Travel Commerce Solutions.

Manish is a trainer for IATA and has over 15 years of travel industry experience. Travel Commerce Solutions are developing e-commerce solutions for the travel industry. They aim to assist airlines to achieve product differentiation and portfolio optimisation whilst elevating customer experience and loyalty.  He will also be running a workshop at AVIADEV 2016 - please visit http://www.aviationdevelop.com for more.

Manish and the team are specifically interested in the African market, due to the way the market is developing. The transport infrastructure is not overly well developed on the continent and therefore, air connectivity will play a huge part in future mobility.

Patrick Fitzgibbon, Senior Vice President, Development EMEA has a quick chat with Bench Events Managing Director Matthew Weihs ahead of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) 2016.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

In this podcast Bench Events Managing Director, Matthew Weihs talks to Mark Martinovic, CEO at Hotel Spec, about the first ever cost benchmarking guide report for Africa.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

In this podcast Bench Events Managing Director, Matthew Weihs talks to Mark Dunford, Vice President of Sub-Saharan Africa at JLL, about the upcoming Hotel Market Outlook reports published on the Bench Events website.  

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

Managing Director at W Hospitality, Trevor Ward, speaks with Bench Events UK MD Matthew Weihs on the eve before the release of the 8th hotel chain development pipeline report.

Speaking on the findings within the report, Mr Ward goes on to give his views on the brands contributing to the report and African brands to watch.
The pair go on to discuss Nigeria being at top of the country table, further opportunities for brands with a presence within Africa, the state of the market and finally the political and economic issues Africa faces.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

Bench Events Event Coordinator, Joelle Mottier, talks with the Executive Director at the Tourism Development Corporation Of Boavista and Majo, Rui Santos, discussing foreign investment and the challenges faced by Cape Verde.

Beginning with an overview of Cape Verde, the pair go on to talk about branded hotels and how Chinese investment of 250 million dollars impacts the tourism market. Mr Santos goes on to speak on how Cape Verde can make itself a better known destination listing air connectivity as a key factor and on relationship building with investors.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

Lamine Sebogo is Head of the Elephant Conservation program for the WWF. Sitting down with Bench Events CEO, Jonathan Worsley, at the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) 2015 in Addis Ababa, the pair discuss the real facts about the elephant poaching crisis. Covering the poverty, global demand and money that is fuelling the trade, Mr Sebogo talks about how the hotel industry can stop the slaughter of approximately 30,000 elephants being poached every year.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.

Hear more about the increased activity from Middle Eastern carriers and some successes from local carriers such as Ethiopian Airways, using Addis Ababa as a hub.  The growth of African middle class consumers has also given birth to low cost carriers such as FastJet as well as three other players in the region.  Jon can be reached via jon.howell@benchevents.com.

This podcast is part of an official series supporting the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). To attend, please visit www.africa-conference.com.