BiiC Head appointed to Africa Tourism Innovation Hub

The Head of the Centre for Business Innovation and Incubation (BiiC) and Acting Head of the Graduate Centre for Management (GCM), Prof Michael Twum-Darko has been appointed as one of the lead strategic partners for the Africa Tourism Innovation Hub (ATIH).

The Hub is one of the key outcomes of the 2022 Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge, hosted by the Namibian Government under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT).

Pioneered by the Africa Tourism Partners (ATP), the ATIH is a physical and virtual hub established in collaboration with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Durban University of Technology, Namibia University of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism (Namibia) and Cornell University. "As a pan-African initiative, the hub has evolved as a key outcome and implementable project of the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge. This initiative, which commenced in Durban, South Africa, in 2019, has since been hosted in various African nations, including Rwanda, Ghana, and Namibia," said Twum-Darko. He said the main goal of the ATIH is to further technological innovation among start-ups within Africa's travel and tourism sector, drive youth employability, and stimulate tourism entrepreneurship development.

Twum-Darko who established the BiiC in 2019, said he felt "honoured to have become one of the lead strategic partners and Director of ATIH to contribute to operationalise the hub's operations as to tangibly mainstream its programmes. He will be presenting the master plan of the Hub to the 2024 Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge in Windhoek, Namibia from 29 May to 1 June 2024.