Four DUT Tourism students jetted off to Johannesburg this weekend after being chosen to participate in the IMEX-MCI-MPI Future Leaders Forum which offers participating students a once in a lifetime opportunity to enrich their curriculum further to building a network of peers as well as continued opportunities and career guidance.

Hosted by the SA National Convention Bureau (SANCB) and IMEX-MCI (an independent, global communications and event management company)-MPI (Meeting Professionals and International), the Forum will be hosted at this year’s Meetings Africa which kicked off today (Monday 18 February 2013) at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg.

Meetings Africa 2013 is the continent’s premier business trade show where (Africa’s) business leaders gather with local, regional as well as international corporate, government and incentive business event buyers or decision makes.

The event also showcases Africa’s diverse offering of services and products and is also where African associations meetings industry professionals can partner to help transform the continent.

The IMEX-MCI-MPI Future Leaders Forum was developed to encourage the best and brightest students to enter the meetings and incentive travel industry. Tourism academics are tasked with selecting their top four third-year event students to participate in the event. In order to make the cut, students must perform well academically and must demonstrate learning and potential for future involvement in the Business Events industry.

Charmaine Kujinga, 21, Naomi Govender, 19, Fatima Jooma, 25, and Sinothando Shabalala,19, are the four third-year DUT students who were chosen to attend the event and are all ecstatic about being chosen.

Kujinga said being chosen presented a great opportunity to make better use of people as well as to broaden her career goals. She expects to meet “captains” of the tourism industry who paved the way for tourism in South Africa and in the continent. Govender, who had no idea that she would be chosen to participate in the event said she expects to gain more knowledge about how the industry works as well as “what is out there”. Jooma said South Africa is slowly developing as a country and is at a stage where it is being recognised by other countries as one of the top international destinations.

“Tourism contributes a lot to the country’s growth. The youth has a lot to benefit from the tourism industry so we can’t afford to ignore it”, said Shabalala adding to her peers’ views.

Munnir Shaw, Hospitality and Tourism Lecturer said he expected the four students to use every opportunity to boost and consolidate their learning of the sector. “Their selection was based on academic performance and personality. This is the second time that we (DUT) have been invited to participate in the conference. As in the past, we expect that our participation will advance the credibility of our graduates on this career path. Our four students are bound to go there and make us proud as DUT,” said Shaw.

– Sinegugu Ndlovu

Pictured: The four students with their lecturer Munnir Shaw (centre) soon before heading to Johannesburg to participate in the IMEX-MCI-MPI Future Leaders Forum. From left: Charmaine Kujinga, Fatima Jooma, Sinothando Shabalala and Naomi Govender.