12/10/2023 0 Comments War room pandemic live![]() ![]() ![]() I never considered myself an academic, so when I started the course, I felt a little bit out of place. Interacting with people from so many different industries helped me draw a clearer picture of the whole ecosystem of the economy I learnt a lot about how I actually learn, and how I can best engage with what is happening in other industries or countries. I learnt about current ways of thinking and hot topics in business, but I discovered which of these actually resonated with me. What I have most enjoyed about the course was the path of self-discovery that it set me on. You have the option of attending in person or virtually, but I chose to go in person because the biggest takeaway for me has been engaging with the other participants. There are about 60 of us doing the course, which stretches over two years in two-week blocks, with classes every three months. The course attracted me as it is one of the best in the world, and I could do it part time and continue working. That led me to go back to the University of Cape Town, to the Graduate School of Business for an executive MBA. I spoke to the chairman of our company about it and he suggested that I already had a lot of experience, but that I needed to connect it to trends that were happening not just in my world but also internationally. How can I be more effective? How can I change people’s lives, and do it on a bigger scale? I had this voice that kept bugging me, asking how I could keep improving the sustainability of our business. I eventually became a general manager, overseeing the whole operation and bringing everything together, before moving to the executive role that I have today, where I look after four camps. I worked in every department from housekeeping to food and beverage and maintenance. I then returned to Maun and started working for Wilderness Safaris, where I still work today. From a young age, I knew I wanted to work at the tourism lodges in the Okavango Delta.Īfter high school, I went to Cape Town and got a bachelor’s degree in geographic environmental science and tourism. Sustainability was something that started manifesting in my headspace early on. Mother Nature is one of the resources we have and true wilderness can generate revenue and improve people’s livelihoods, if it is managed sustainably. We also had a family farm a couple of hours outside Maun, where we would go at weekends and on vacations, so I grew up with a lot of exposure to the wilderness. My dad used to have a transport company and would deliver gas and building materials for safari companies and I would accompany him into the bush when I was on school holidays. We have started diversifying, but it is pretty much a tourism-based economy. I grew up in Maun, a small town in northern Botswana. Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
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