SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

STH’s Gifty Koufie excels at the 2020/21 World Tourism Forum

The 2021 World Tourism Forum Lucerne ended remarkably for Gifty Efua Koufie, a Ghanaian hotelier and alu mni of the University of Johannesburg who recently participated at the Forum’s Innovation Festival in Adermatt, Switzerland.

Ms Koufie clenched the top prize under the Diversity category of the Young Talent Programme; after delivering an upbeat pitch on the use of nutrition apps in the hospitality industry to combat obesity and non-communicable diseases.

The World Tourism Forum Lucerne (WTFL) is the only global platform where leaders and decision-makers in government, academia and the tourism and hospitality industry converge to address imminent challenges while exploring cutting-edge and disruptive ideas to propel the industry.

Themed ‘Moving Forward’, this year’s event probed the future of tourism and hospitality in a post Covid-19 world, featuring a series of high-powered panel discussions and pitches in the first hybrid – virtual and physical – experience. The high-profile guest list included chief executive officers of leading hotel groups such as Puneet Chhatwal, chief executive officer of Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces; Martin Barth, chief executive officer of WTFL; Laura Meyer, chief executive officer of Hotelplan Group and Koen Deryckere, global industry lead at Accenture, just to mention a few. The programme also saw the participation of students, hoteliers and

finalists from WTFL’s global partner institutions.

Ms Koufie pitched against eleven other contestants pooled from over 100 applications from forty official WTFL partner institutions worldwide. The contestants underwent an exacting evaluation and selection process that included submitting an abstract, followed by a full paper that was double-blind peer reviewed, a three minute video pitch at the semi-finalist stage and an elevator pitch at the WTFL in Andermatt, Switzerland. In 2019, another student from the School of Tourism and Hospitality (STH), Refiloe Lekgau won top prize in another category, making Ms Koufie’s outstanding performance particularly significant for STH, and asserts UJ’s stellar credentials as a centre of excellence in hospitality and tourism education.

While receiving the award, Ms Koufie expressed her gratitude to WTFL for the career transforming opportunity. She also thanked the STH and UJ for the institutional support and extolled the expert guidance of her supervisor, Hema Kesa, director of Food Evolution Research Laboratory (FERL). “The STH and I are extremely proud of Ms Koufie’s well deserved achievement and will support her initiative in peer coaching and mentorship of other young talents in the industry. We wish Gifty every success in her future endeavours,” Dr Kesa said.

The prestigious award opens a world of limitless possibilities to Ms Koufie, who will receive career coaching and mentorship within WTFL’s community of distinguished organisations. However, Ms Koufie desires to impart the knowledge and expertise to benefit other young talents in the tourism and hospitality industry through peer coaching and mentorship.

Ms Koufie holds an HND in hotel, catering and institutional management from the Cape Coast Technical University, a BTech degree in hospitality management (Cum Laude) and an MA in tourism and hospitality from the University of Johannesburg. This award exemplifies Ms Koufie’s hallmark of resilience, hard work and excellence. She returns home as an Ambassador of the WTFL Young Talent Programme, poised to impact Ghana’s burgeoning tourism and hospitality industry.

Click here to watch and learn more about the project: www.wtflucerne.org/ young-talent-programme