General Manager (Kigali Serena Hotel)

The Republic of Rwanda is currently going through a transformation from a middle income to a high income, positioning in the top 3 best countries to do Business in. What needs to be done in order to maintain this growth?

Rwanda needs to focus on enlarging and strengthening its middle-income class, this is already happening but we must work harder in order to sustain the country's growth and get further than where we have arrived.

I believe that in order to develop the middle income class it is needed to provide them with the skills to participate actively in business, the capacity to create and respond to the employment demand which is all about having the right infrastructures and training.  Rwanda is already doing that by training its people, enhancing them to get the jobs and by this way become a member of the middle class, contributing to their personal development but also to the society`s right performance.

The touristic sector brings in over 200 million dollars annually to the country and represents and extensive source of employment. What would you say are Rwanda's main assets to develop this sector?

Talking about tourism, one of the key matters is the perception. In terms of security Rwanda is considered as a safe country. If we talk about hygiene conditions, we stand out as Africa's cleanest country. Finally, the people, which in Rwanda, has the ability of delivering proper service.

For the last four years, Rwanda has been continually training its human resources in all the different categories: banking, tourism, agriculture, etc. This is a key because then people from outside come back here knowing good services will be provided at all time and people that come for the first time, once they arrive, they notice this.

The Kigali Serena Hotel is part of the Serena Group, which is well recognized in Asia and Africa for its quality of services and products. When did the group arrive to Rwanda? How has been the evolution of the hotel?

In 2007, Serena Group realized Rwanda was ready to have a five stars hotel, so after following the right procedures the group received a go ahead from the government to develop this project.

During these years, the business has been better year after year, and we have a very positive perspective. 2014 was a very successful year for us and we keep aiming higher, we already have a couple of high level delegations of 3.000 people coming to Kigali to do business and Kigali Serena is without doubt the hotel of choice.

As the vice-president of the Hotel Keepers Association of Rwanda, I have the chance of interacting with top-level players such as the Rwandan Development Board, the Prime Minister's offices, the Ministries of Commerce, Finance and Education… and we can all agree on the fact that there is an evident growth not only in the local income, but also in our internal operations.

For the last two years we have received money from the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development in partnership with de DEG, the German Investment Corporation, and invested it on training our staff in an international skills development programme called ‘Lobster Ink’. We host over 200 students from colleges and we are partner for everything they need: education, transport, uniforms, food, etc. We have seen our company grow and we feel the responsibility and the desire to collaborate with the community.

As mentioned before, the Kigali Serena Hotel is the place of choice for guests from all around the world. What is the strategy to present Kigali Serena and be the hotel of choice?

Serena Group has managed to position itself as a top-class services provider. Wherever you go and there is one of our hotels you can be confident about the type of service you will receive. The group`s market target has always been clear and we have addressed our efforts to construct the right infrastructure to attract this segment worldwide. We take care of the regional executive jet class, not only from Europe, but also from Asia, the Americas and other regions.

The government aims to promote Rwanda as a high quality tourism destination and for this matter you have been a strategic partner by counting high level facilities, hosting for International events and providing services, Where are you currently focusing your efforts to continue on this line?

We have seen a tremendous growth in the City as a destination for Meetings, Incentive groups, Conferences and Exhibitions, which is why this is an area where we are focusing. Apart from the classic tourism, Rwanda is attracting major conventions, especially into Kigali. We just did the Korea Telkom Event with 1,500 delegates, the AfDB Annual Meeting 2014  with over 3,000 international delegates, so we can see that the trend is that more and more people and feeling secure to come to Kigali and to undertake big functions and seminars that are taking place here, so I think is fair for us to give a lot of reminiscences toward that direction, to promote the meetings and the incentive groups to Kigali. We have the facilities, so that makes it easier, but it is also about the environment, because people feel really free, they can walk at any time during the night, they have all the Airline connectivity with which they can leave right when the meeting is finished, so that makes it even easier.

As you have stated on previews interviews, the human resources is key for the proper performance of a hotel. What are your strategies to select the best people and give them the right training?

Our training process is quite sophisticated. We do not only focus on paperwork, we focus on the ability to deliver and the attitude of the people. We go through an elaborated process to acquire our members and staff and because of our presence in East Africa, once we employ people, we deploy them to other places for practical exposures. Before they start working with us, they have a choice of 21 Sister Unit facilities to visit, to see how things are done. Once they come back, they can feel comfortable in the company and think if this is the company they want to work for. So we give them time to make up their minds, by seeing what others are doing.

As I said before, with our trainings in partnership with the DEG, we are spending one million dollars per year for training our staff and also other members of the community that are not staff, and that is a Budget outside of the normal training Budget. The normal training Budget is about 500 dollars per staff per year and we have 500 members of staff between here and Lake Kivu, our Sister unit located in the Rwanda resort  town of Rubavu, so we have fairly substantial budgets for training and developing our workforce. Also we have a simulation room that we have set up with the Systems so the staff can go and practice. All the staff have to pass the Minimum set mark for each lessons in both theories and practicals, there are also systems to award and reward best performers including exposures in different hotels in South Africa, Maputo or even Paris.

The Kigali Serena Hotel has been awarded for 3 consecutive years as Rwanda's Leading hotel and you have been a key factor in this achievement. From a more personal perspective, what do you feel the most proud of? What is your vision for the Kigali Serena Hotel in the next five years?

What I feel the most proud of is my best asset, which is my staff. I am very confident because I know that with or without me, deliveries will be done, I trust them and they know they can trust me.

To conclude the interview Mr. Muia, our readers are interested in the company but also in the leader we interview. What message would you like to send to the global readers of eBiz Guides to invite them to come and chose Kigali Serena Hotel?

I want to disseminate the information for it to the outside World. Rwanda, and especially Kigali, is focusing on winning the right spot of the world tourism map, not only regionally, but also in Europe and America. Kigali has done whatever can be done to attract tourism, placing the necessary infrastructure. Rwanda is number 3 on the best practices on doing Business in Africa and of course when we are talking of Africa, we can say that Rwanda is the leader in East Africa. Thanks to the good Leadership Practices of the Government.

In a very short time, things have been done properly, lighting on the roads have been done, cameras have been installed within the city streets and there is a civic culture, here things are transparent and there is no corruption. Rwanda is on a perfect moment to jump into the spotlight and really realize its potential.