Gcina Nomsa Dlamini
Owner And Founder Merchantry Worldwide (Pty) Ltd South Africa
Name
Elvis
Scott Blount is the founder of TripClip, a world-first travel tech platform that was launched in South Africa in 2021. TripClip has quickly become one of Africa’s quickest growing travel tech companies, spanning across 14 African countries with clients throughout the world.
Within just 12 months the platform has generated in excess of 80 000 itineraries that have amassed more than 1.4 million views/shares across the globe, generating immensely valuable exposure for the African travel industry.
TripClip was named the World’s Best Travel Itinerary Builder in 2021 and have again been shortlisted for this award in 2022. Scott is also a finalist in the ATP Youth In Innovation Challenge 2022.
Scott previously worked for an industry-leading Destination Management Company, managing Sales for the North American, South American, Asian & Australasian markets.
Prior to his involvement in the inbound travel & tourism industry Scott specialized in investment banking for one of Africa’s most prestigious investment banks – an opportunity awarded to him as a result of being the Top Graduate of his degree in South Africa.
His passion for innovation extends beyond the travel industry and he’s proud to have previously founded/co-founded two additional start-up ventures.
Nkululeko Ndumiso Nkosi is a 28 year old entrepreneur, writer, strategist and technology innovator who hails from Lekwa (formerly known as Standerton) in the Mpumalanga province. Nkululeko Nkosi fulfills his professional and leadership duties from South Africa’s city of gold — Johannesburg, South Africa.
He started out as a digital marketing professional with skills in digital data analysis, digital strategy, social media and community management. He later grew to be one of the most edgy, most insightful and forward thinking creative strategists with a finger on the pulse of South African popular culture.
His passion for research and his understanding of African culture both urban and rural makes his strategic work not only relevant but also come with a very high degree of authenticity. Nkululeko Nkosi was employed at an award-winning agency, MetropolitanRepublic, he has played a key role in unpacking creative strategies for world-class brands such Danone, Sony Mobile ZA, LEGiT Fashion, Leroy Merlin, Aquafresh, Med-Lemon, Ithuba National Lottery, KOO Brands and Discovery. When you ask him what keeps him going, Nkululeko Nkosi would tell you it is the diversity in our cultures that makes our country the coolest place to be right now. He is now focused on building the future of Africa in the entrepreneurial space where his focus is merging technology, creativity and strategy to develop solutions.
He has represented South Africa through his marketing, media and entertainment consultancy work at the ONGEA Summit in Kenya, 4th Africa Youth In Tourism Summit Innovation & Challenge in Namibia and the Financial Security Olympiad in Russia competing against youth in BRICS nations. Nkululeko is currently the co-founder of Saturated, a digital agency startup which has developed an innovative tourism digital product titled Etela Africa for the African continent. Etela Africa translates to ‘Visit Africa’ in the Sotho languages of Southern Africa.
Jeffrey-Takunda Murungweni is a 20-year-old Zimbabwean who is passionate about tourism and the inclusion of technology to help make the tourist experience a much better one. He is currently a first-year student at Africa University, pursuing an honours degree in Computer Science.
Jeffrey is the founder of a travel tech company called Trafiki Africa. Through this company, he has developed a WhatsApp chatbot that acts as a centralized platform for tourism services in Zimbabwe.
He launched the chatbot in August 2022 and has designed it so far to promote tourist destinations within Zimbabwe. With time, he aims at including booking services onto the chatbot.
Prior to scooping the 2nd runner-up position at the Africa Youth In Tourism Innovation challenge 2022, Jeffrey was the inaugural winner of the Zimbabwe Youth in Tourism Innovation challenge of 2021 with the same idea, Trafiki Africa.
Eugene Allotey has over 7 years of experience in the IT field. He has spent most of his career working at Creative Bibini managing IT-related project portfolios as well as managing large, complex multi-use development projects. He began his career as a Project Manager and is now the Chief Operations Officer for the company.
As Creative Bibini’s Co-Founder, COO and Senior Project Manager, Eugene is responsible for defining and implementing a state-of-the-art information technology architecture, developing and implementing governance, project management processes while ensuring the successful deployment of services that meet Creative Bibini’s mission and client requirements. As a Senior Project Manager at Creative Bibini, Eugene approaches all projects with a strong strategic focus and an emphasis on team building while always maintaining a clear path towards achieving project goals. He is a true believer in building solutions that follow values and agile practices, mentoring and motivating teams to improve processes, eliminating team impediments, and facilitating meetings and decision-making processes.
Eugene is a Co-Founder and Development partner at FOCAS, a real-time customer service feedback software that won the Africa Youth in Innovation Challenge Award in 2021.
Eugene holds a Master’s Degree in Marketing Strategy from the University of Ghana Business School. He is also a Member of the Project Management Institute (Global and Ghana Chapter) as well as a certified Digital Marketer from Google.
Popularly known as Ajala Nene, Nnenna Fakoya-Smith is a Tourism Promoter and Visibility Strategist.
She is the Founder of Nene-Uwa Hub Ltd, a tourism company that promotes tourist destinations in Africa and sustainability for Tourism businesses and organizations through visibility strategies.
As a Visibility Strategist, she helps small business owners build a visible and sustainable brand through her signature program called the Audience Builder Process™.
Nnenna is recognized as the Top 30 Tourism and Hospitality Influencers in Nigeria (2020) and Africa (2021). In 2022, she was recognized as the Top 30 Women in Tourism Nigeria.
Nnenna has been recognized as one of the “Young Tourism Personalities of the Year” by the Nigeria Tourism Awards for hosting the first-ever Tourism Virtual Summit. She was nominated for the “Rising Star of the Year (Tourism)” and “Best Tourism Innovation Through Technology (Tourism Virtual Summit)” by the Pyne Awards.
She has a first degree in Sociology from Covenant University, Ogun State, and a Post-Graduate degree in Community Relations from Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos State both in Nigeria.
Her hobbies include collecting postcards, stamps, coins, and banknotes, which got her featured on Forbes Africa as one of Africa’s Aficionado Collectors. She enjoys traveling and exploring cultures; sporting activities, arts, and singing. She is also an Afrocentric Enthusiast who loves to display her African roots.
Owner And Founder Merchantry Worldwide (Pty) Ltd South Africa
Inspired by Madam CJ Walker, and a strong advocate for Schumpeter’s school of thought. Gcina Nomsa Dlamini was named one of the Mail& Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans 2021, a winner in the category of Tourism & Hospitality. She is no stranger to the International community. While working in Washington DC, she received a scholarship from Howard University, Advance IT Women In STEM to further her studies in Econometrics & International Business. Her passion for travel started at the tender age of 14, on a visit to Dakar, Senegal. She has hosted multiple delegations and international celebrities both in South Africa and the US, who have a direct interest in investing in South Africa.
Her company Merchantry Worldwide, which means trade was founded on the basis of using travel as a catalyst for business and investment. She has contributed to the South African tourism industry, by exposing international visitors to the rich culture, history and diversity in the rural parts of the Country also known as ‘hidden gems. She is the Senior Export Manager for Europe & the UK at Wesgro, and was the runner up for the Africa Youth innovation challenge for 2021 in Kigali Rwanda.
She has also been accepted to the IE Brown Executive MBA in 2023
Aline Murekatete is Destination management specialist and certified Project manager. With 3+ years of experience in destination (Rwanda) marketing and destination consultancy, she takes pride in bringing the destination management services to the destination management services next level.
She has been selected as one of Rwanda’s top 12 Tourism Incubation women-only cohorts and was the winner of the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Competition 2020.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Travel and Tourism Management from Kenya Utalli College, in collaboration with the University of Nairobi.one of the world’s most prestigious hospitality schools.
