Providing quality career and leadership development for African youth through MICE has been a hot topic at this week’s Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge in Namibia.

Industry leaders and experts deliberated over ‘Fostering Professional MICE Education’ during a panel discussion yesterday (Tuesday, May 30), where they stressed the need for an education system that encompassed MICE in such a way that it would develop and promote the sector across the African continent.

“There are institutions that are geared towards traditional tourism training. Although MICE covers a huge sector within tourism, there remains a huge gap in the training of MICE and what it entails. Many people passionate about cooking go into the catering business, but there is still a lack of training to deliver quality events. We need to work on the education systems to fix this,” said Ally Karearua, Chairperson and Executive Member of the Hospitality Association of Namibia.

Dr Isobel Green, Department Head and Senior Lecturer, at the Department of Tourism and Hospitality at the Namibia University of Science and Technology, added: “The tourism curriculum offered by institutions is a generalist qualification. If students go into that qualification, they come out as generalists. No institution offers a specific qualification in MICE, although some offer it as a short course. It is not a specialised focus area in education at present. There is quality education needed in the MICE industry.

“Gone are the days when we must wait for the government to create jobs. The economy is not in a space to create adequate jobs for tourism graduates. The Innovation Challenge provides a starting point for young entrepreneurs and youth in Africa to want to make a difference, not just in tourism or hospitality, but in many other sectors with potential for job creation.”

Green further believes that universities will respond to this need for MICE-based education. “Universities are waiting for institutions to write and say ‘please develop us a programme in events and meetings’.”

Value of the MICE sector

Sebulon Chicalu, Director for Tourism and Gaming, Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism in Namibia, emphasised the difference between each subsector – meetings, incentives, conferences and events – with each having its own set of skills and requirements, adding that each had an impact across the value chain.

“The total impact of global tourism events in pre-pandemic 2019 was US$2.8 trillion and 27.5 million jobs were created. The value of business tourism in the same year was US$1.6 trillion of GDP (representing a contribution to the global gross domestic product). Tourist spending compared with business traveller spending is 1:3, meaning a business traveller spends three times more than a normal tourist.”

Advice for youth

Youth needed to have hunger, conviction and passion to make it in the MICE sector, Green said.

“Even though there is no specific qualification for MICE, youth need to start with hunger and conviction to build themselves up toward that formal qualified expert in the industry.

“They need to equip themselves first and grow emotionally. It is not an easy road to walk. They have to find mentors and coaches who are willing to assist them on this journey. Youth also need to find out as much as they can on their own – training themselves.

“It takes entrepreneurs to go out there and say ‘I want to be an employer and not an employee’. It starts with that drive, but mentoring and coaching are needed. Youth also need to read books that speak to how to build a business, how to do marketing, how to utilise social media. There are new tools and ways of marketing.”