Redefining African Travel Experiences Beyond Wildlife: ZaNiheza's Mission to Showcase the True Africa with Charles Shima

[00:00:00] You're listening to the Unlocking Africa podcast. My journey started in Rwanda four years ago, linking up local curators, giving them the visibility they need in the marketing and at the same time changing the negative narrative of our continent.

[00:00:15] When you look at Rwanda where I am from, people can come for the gorillas, that's great but Kigali is more than the gorillas. Kigali is more than the genocide against the Tutsi that happened.

[00:00:23] There is a growing, vibrant fashion scene, business scene, even the culture. So how do we bring that to a platform? Research shows that there are 700 million travelers who seek cultural experiences. They don't make it to the continent. They don't. They don't.

[00:00:40] Stay tuned as we bring you inspiring people who are unlocking Africa's economic potential. You're listening to the Unlocking Africa podcast with your host Terser Adamu. Welcome to the Unlocking Africa podcast where we find inspirational people who are doing

[00:01:01] inspirational things to unlock Africa's economic potential. Today we have another special guest. We have Charles Shima, who is founder and CEO of ZaNiheza which is an Afrocentric travel marketplace that offers immersive experiences, activities and events in Africa. Welcome to the podcast Charles, how are you?

[00:01:27] I'm great thank you for having me. Oh it's a pleasure to have you. I know we've been speaking for quite a while and the date has finally arrived so I'm looking forward to hearing all

[00:01:38] about your journey and this amazing startup that you have founded. So before we get started I was hoping you could introduce yourself and tell us a bit more about Charles Shima. Absolutely thank you very much. Yes we have been talking for quite some time indeed

[00:01:55] so I'm really happy to be here speaking to you and sharing my story. I am a founder, CEO and actually also chief storyteller of what is really the world's first Afrocentric travel marketplace

[00:02:11] and my aim is to connect the travelers with less seen things or down in Africa. For many years the focus has always been on safari, yet safari is only five countries, Africa is 54 countries

[00:02:25] and there is more things to do such as culinary. We have food, we have cities because in North America some people still think that we don't have cities like big city, modern city.

[00:02:37] My journey started in Rwanda and that's actually four years ago and I am linking up local curators giving them the visibility they need in the marketing and at the same time changing the negative narrative of our continent through travel while empowering and creating the youth.

[00:02:56] I'm also a father of twins so yeah that's me. Fantastic so you touched on a few key points there which is you are the chief storyteller of the organization your aim is to connect travelers

[00:03:08] with the less seen or known things about Africa and it's also about changing the negative narrative that is sometimes promoted or displayed about Africa. Yes I was hoping you could start from the beginning in terms of your journey you are originally from Rwanda I know

[00:03:27] we've spoken before in terms of how you survived the genocide and then moved to the US or traveled and began this amazing journey so I was hoping you can kind of talk us through that journey in

[00:03:39] terms of where or started from where you are now. Absolutely yeah that's quite a story my life story is a quite story my story is actually very linked to the history of Rwanda. Take you back

[00:03:55] to when I was born in 1978 my father had fled the conflict back then in 73 in Rwanda and moved to DRC back then as a era and that's where my love for cultures were really born because

[00:04:12] Kishasa the capital of DRC was quite a modern city so from my younger age I saw a lot of TV shows from the US one of my favorite was Roots and the Dallas yes and then when we moved back to Rwanda

[00:04:27] that was about about seven or eight maybe eight when we moved to Rwanda my mother was quite ill she will pass shortly after that and four years later my dad in 1991 also passed away unfortunately

[00:04:40] and I was at 13 years old an orphan without my parents and being an orphan in Rwanda before the genocide unfortunately that was a very it was a very peculiar situation to be in unfortunately

[00:04:55] orphans are sometimes thrown upon and sometimes you are blamed for what has happened to you. Anyways life must go on so I was getting used to my life without my parents anyone who has

[00:05:09] heard me and watched me on LinkedIn I always speak formally of my dad my father because he is a man who has really shaped me in so many ways he is my hero he is an inspiration and that's key in my formative

[00:05:25] years around as I was growing up and seeing how black men in general African men are seen perceived he also never left the continent I must say that even though he had the proper profile of an African

[00:05:40] who should move somewhere else for a post job in Europe that being said 1994 when I was about 16 years old actually the genocide started the killings the present plain of shutdown on the 6th I was

[00:05:53] having dinner and around 8 p.m or so that's when the radio switched to classical music and in me I knew something had happened like a few days before I turned 16 really my life changed

[00:06:06] completely to the genocide against the Tutsi started I survived it barely and I remember when I was at the checkpoint I was almost gonna be killed and actually I'm the only one who survived

[00:06:19] I said to myself if I survive this I am gonna leave the country I will never come back and really that's what actually what happened so from around I made my way again to the RC

[00:06:30] this time on the border in a city town called the Bukavu luckily I had gone there initially I was born in Kishasa in the west it's quite far from where I was now in the Bukavu and I kept going

[00:06:45] until I made my way to Kenya and from Kenya I was able to come to Canada where I've been for many many many years and really I did have planned to go back home I had not seen

[00:06:58] Randa or the continent in Africa for 24 years I only returned in 2018 and the rest is history as they say and so yeah 24 years before I went back to Randa and the continent in Africa and I actually

[00:07:13] wrote a song that was actually sung by one of the popular musicians in Randa so it's it isn't quite a long story but I hope I've summarized it as I could thank you for sharing that

[00:07:25] obviously it's quite a dramatic experience but it's great to hear about your inspiration that you took or have taken from your parents your father and also the journey that led you from Africa

[00:07:38] to Vancouver which has brought you on this path of the great work that you're doing so how did your experiences do you believe shape your vision for the company that you're currently running?

[00:07:50] Absolutely as I said earlier being born in Kishasa and from an early age seeing the many cultures was one of the privileged few I went to at that time a Belgian private school

[00:08:07] we traveled between Randa and DRC even did some travel we viewed the country my father who worked for the United Nations will have many guests from all over the world so he became quite normal

[00:08:21] to meet people from all over the world and then the very challenges I faced as a vulnerable young man really shaped me losing my mom when I was young seeing how when she was sick but she

[00:08:33] never gave up similar thing for my dad they really fought until the end they never gave up to this day as you build a startup it's quite hard you had the pandemic you don't have the funding you need

[00:08:46] you have to deal with rejections so in me with everything I've faced in my life growing up you can see I am more than an ideal founder who goes through these challenges of a startup

[00:09:00] and still find a way to keep going no matter what. Fantastic so I guess from there if we look at what you're trying to achieve through Zaneza you're trying to bridge a specific gap in the

[00:09:14] travel market so what specific areas are you trying to address while trying to bridge these gaps? Absolutely trying more so I mean four years in the opportunity is this one and when you look at

[00:09:30] the continent of Africa when you look at our tourism I must say it was shaped from a colonial lens I challenge everyone to go and go go and search the word safari we know it means journey

[00:09:42] and that's a beautiful thing yes however when safari came associated with travel it's too hot it's to kill the big five when we look at the narrative we have to think about that right as now

[00:09:54] as people of the global african descent because for a long time we didn't really have a say on how shape tourism on how we tell our stories now weekend when you look at random where I am from

[00:10:06] for example people can come for the gorillas that's great but Kigali is more than the gorillas Kigali is more than the genocide against the truth that happened there is a growing vibrant fashion scene business scene even the culture so how do we bring that to a

[00:10:22] platform enabled with technology and as well as an AI I've always pitched this an years before charge of PT that is going to be an AI powered platform it's not just a question of hey

[00:10:36] I have this website and I'm just gonna replicate if you google travel to Africa you will come up with safari safari safari it's like almost every package is going to say a day safari safari

[00:10:46] safari have you seen that yes of course and when you look in Europe we can UK when you look even in Asia they have beautiful market places and you ask yourself if you look at get your guide if you

[00:11:01] look at tour radar and you look at clook in Asia now do you know over a similar platform that really promotes our continent to that level well now we have Zanheza he has to get there

[00:11:14] and that's where the opportunity is telling our story leveraging the technology and as well as AI and also being at the table it's key that we are at the table where the decisions are made

[00:11:27] where they discuss travel in the tourism to that high level yes the government do it such as visit one that they're doing such an amazing job in the private sector we need to do that as well

[00:11:38] we need to find innovation through travel so that's where Zanheza is coming in is building this beautiful platform that can compete with and get you guide in Europe or cook in Asia thank you for that

[00:11:50] you mentioned our historically Africa's travel industry was created or crafted through a colonial lens I guess this is an obvious question why do you believe it is important to showcase the diversity in Africa's travel industry and to move away from some of those historical and stereotypical images

[00:12:12] of African travel yeah because even I who is passionate about traveling tourism in Africa every day I discover beautiful destinations beautiful things to do on the continent and ask myself why aren't we seeing this for example in South Africa they just finished the current

[00:12:30] festival the htv that has been running for many years it's a beautiful festival where people can go share food in Mozambique they have untapped beautiful result beach we is all near the water and we talk about responsible tourism in Europe many locations such as in Italy

[00:12:51] they are suffering with and over tourism yet I can name over 20 countries on Africa that could benefit from the tourism it's good for the economy it's also good for the youth when we are talking about unemployment you see when I saw the young women and men dying in

[00:13:11] the Mediterranean it really broke me that's not happened in this time and so where are their solutions and it's not just about the continent I'm talking about the global African diaspora

[00:13:24] hence it is an Afrocentric and now we have a window with a boy the music we are just winning now let's just infuse that with tourism let's just you know travel let's have a platform

[00:13:38] that shines the cultures and also really I would like to see more our global African diaspora putting Africa destinations or Afrocentric destinations first it is us it is our history it is our future I agree you know in order to promote and introduce people to some of the

[00:13:56] hidden gems in Africa requires clear storytelling you are the chief storyteller within Zaneza so how do you believe storytelling and say content creation contributes to changing that narrative and introducing people to some of the less known less seen locations

[00:14:20] within the continent absolutely thank you for that interesting enough my father introduced me to content creation ever since we were a kid I think he knew if we didn't have the genocide against the Tutsi I could literally show you my life in pictures I remember watching routes

[00:14:40] TV when I was about six years old the roots is the history of Kuntankinte who was taken from the continent in Africa perhaps fictional or not have you heard of that story yes of course of course

[00:14:51] I was six years old seeing this person who looks like me black being taken away from our continent taken to the foreign land and how he fought for his rights in this case he didn't want his name

[00:15:02] to be changed that image stays with you that's content creation that's history being told from a perspective of what happened to him see that stays with you and then when I came to Canada

[00:15:13] I remember I was sitting here I was watching TV and I remember I never forgotten this and I saw those ads of World Division and they're showing in a kid somewhere in our village in Africa

[00:15:27] and they are saying send them toys and they always had flies at the end interesting enough Trevor Noah did actually a spoof on that to make fun of those ads information so content creation

[00:15:40] it is key because what we say how we say and how we reflect it in the pictures it's key it is how we change the negative narrative and we have to be an apologetic in doing so if you look at

[00:15:54] San Jose social media you will not see the wildlife or lions or elephants because we have cities we have more and it does something you see like we have beautiful city because if you go on

[00:16:06] the other platform on the Expedia I mean rarely they will showcase like a destination in Angola Angola is known as the Miami of the continent it's such a beautiful city near the water

[00:16:21] and even what you are doing with the podcast giving us a voice to come and speak and talking about our journey and what we are doing so when we bring all those together then we can tell

[00:16:30] stories to our voices and through pictures and content creation so you've detailed that content creation and storytelling is key to overcome perceptions narrative and some of the challenges so if we look at the challenges from your perspective or opinion what are the challenges

[00:16:49] that Africa's tourism industry currently faces for many years everything actually even up until now the perceptions of the continent is very negative the perceptions of Africans is very negative and therefore if someone like me I'm saying well it's not or even where they're my

[00:17:11] we one constant challenge is how do you change the mind of something that is has been told for years and years I just gave you an idea of safari how do you be that voice and keep

[00:17:22] going no more because really at some point you sound like a crazy person you you do sound like a crazy what is he saying even when I talk about around the simplest people here in

[00:17:33] Randa still think we still have war like they do this something I hear even as recent as the last month it's oh my goodness no Randa is it safe you know Randa is one of the safest here's another

[00:17:44] thing Randa is one of the safest place in the world why are they just keeping it to Africa come on let's be realistic I have traveled in many places around the world I've been to Japan

[00:17:55] I've been to UK I've been to France I have been in many places and when I say Randa is one of the safest place in the world say it yesterday I was looking at the top 20 destinations to visit

[00:18:08] I love to read those and I go look all right Europe Europe Europe Asia all right there is no Africa why you see and now one of us some of us many of us we we have to speak up and we have

[00:18:26] to be intentional Nigeria my goodness why I just want to tell me that it's not a safe place here's something I was traveling through the US and I was in Washington and I was getting ready

[00:18:40] to go to Baltimore it's not far from Washington and what I've heard about Baltimore it's not safe it's dangerous people are being shot so I was having lunch with someone in Washington before I took

[00:18:51] my train it's like when I go to Baltimore but I'm scared he said why because I hear people get shot all the time he's like Charles people live there yes people live there so how do they live there

[00:19:03] and I made mistake so people live in Nigeria people live in Cape Town people live in Pretoria so on so forth but it has to start with us as well as meaning the global African diaspora so we've discussed the challenges I always believe that with challenges comes opportunities

[00:19:24] do you think as Africans we have done enough to harness the opportunities and tourism for not even for the sake of tourism or to enable economic growth and development that's a very good question I cannot speak for every African involving tourism because we are many people be challenging

[00:19:42] to know what is being done in every corner of the world if you're doing something though you need to speak out just like I am perhaps one thing that I'm doing really well is that

[00:19:52] I am the previous the craziest one who is speaking out on LinkedIn or social media content creation I speak out so if you are building something that is benefiting to our continent

[00:20:05] please don't be quiet let's find each other I think the common thread the weakness that I hear because I'm also now a member of the future of black travel a few delegates who are going to

[00:20:16] discuss ideas on how we can shape the future of black tourism the common thread that here is that we don't work together you see or we work in silence so that's why we're not doing enough

[00:20:29] how can we leverage our strike and some of those solutions that we need to work with I am doing it for example I'm traveling to Randa in November and I said to myself well why can't I go to

[00:20:43] Kenya and go to Uganda and to go to Tanzania and meet with locals in each one of those countries especially the youth and share my knowledge on how we can leverage travel tech because the future isn't travel tech everything happens with tech when you create content you

[00:21:00] need a phone we are speaking now you're using microphone everything is tech enabled nowadays not to mention AI and you see so I am just doing one man trying to go and reach out to our

[00:21:11] brothers and sisters to share their knowledge and at the same time teach them how they can leverage this multi-billion dollar industry to generate an income and that's been another

[00:21:21] challenge who pays for it they want me to pay for it you see even if I don't charge what these things cost money traveling within the continent unfortunately the connectivity is still a challenge

[00:21:32] so who pays for it interesting enough if I speak to my brothers and sisters unfortunately some of them they like to tell me we will pray for you look pray is a nice but prayers you want

[00:21:42] to pay for my ticket to go from Randa to Kenya very true so if we keep on a theme of opportunities in African tourism we know that Africa is experiencing some growth in areas such as tourism

[00:21:58] but what do you believe can be done to sustain this growth or increased interest in African tourism culture we have to consume it if you are a global African who has an income

[00:22:11] don't go to Turkey go to Africa don't go to Dubai go to Africa I used to travel to Japan every year but haven't done that yes we had the pandemic but I put Africa destination first

[00:22:23] because you can have innovation you can have thinking of how do we sustain it but it's sustained by as consuming it crook one of the leading platform in Asia they just put in through

[00:22:36] three billion booking alone between China Singapore and Japan and you will see in those countries it's the locals it's the regional travel happening and that really helps and then with that then we can create more innovation we can design new packages we can touch other destinations we

[00:22:54] can build an infrastructure that's really missing except in some countries like in South Africa but we need to build the attractions they are needed we need to have the future Disneyland of some sort attractions are really needed we can just travel and be in a country yes

[00:23:13] it's beautiful day one but if your family suddenly they don't have a mall or they don't have any other attractions to complement and experience something is missed and that's something wonder has identified by focusing on sports tourism and mice they are doing really

[00:23:28] well and boys to men is going to be performing in niranda in october so everything complements but we need to consume it we african gumball and our friends who wants to discover the cultures told

[00:23:41] from our lens I agree I agree you touched on a key point which was building attractions and infrastructure which also creates sustainability and jobs so we know there is a link between travel job creation and economic development which I believe is a significant part of Zaniezas

[00:24:02] mission so could you elaborate on how you empower local travel curators and promote unique cultural experiences that contribute to economic growth yes working on Zaniezas sometimes people like to suggest me a million things but let's talk about a local curator you will find

[00:24:23] that they may be really good at putting together a package and always remember that most of us don't speak english or french or portuguese as a first language the second or third or fourth now

[00:24:37] when you look at the package and that's what Zaniezas is doing really well you read it you're like okay what are they saying here so essentially what things you need to streamline you need to be

[00:24:46] able to take what they can do and you need to ensure that you can package it you can write it you can bring in those skills in order to make itself the copyright that is needed you need

[00:24:57] to also educate them how to use the technology they need the tools they need the booking software they need to move away from wire transfers so they need those resources and those tools

[00:25:08] and they need the visibility in the west and the credibility and when we do all those things which is where we are doing then we remove those uncertainties that okay this is gonna

[00:25:19] save when i'm reading at the package am i gonna get value for what i am buying there is quite a lot of work people don't realize it is quite a it is quite a lot of work because it's like people design

[00:25:31] shoes or clothes i design packages enable the buy take buy the technology and we are just getting started this is just the tipping point there's a lot more that can be done but essentially any local

[00:25:43] curators on our platform now if we go look we've done all of those we have added value so that they can focus on showing us their countries their culture their food and making sure that

[00:25:56] money goes in the economy directly thank you for that as you mentioned you design packages with the packages that you design are you seeing more interest from people outside of Africa or from people within the continent in terms of those who are interested in the packages that you're

[00:26:17] designing both as any other grows both this is a long-term thinking and strategy when we first launched our first travelers were from Philadelphia family i've never thought in a million years that we are gonna welcome travelers from the US Philadelphia you know and family and as we grow

[00:26:37] now i am seeing an interest from travelers in south in South Africa for example just keep in mind that as a travel platform there is innovations we need to work on both but for the last two years

[00:26:51] my focus was on building a supply that's key working with local curators in Tanzania in Uganda in Rwanda in South Africa in Namibia in Botswana identifying and educating them that look Safari

[00:27:05] is great than he has a modern safari you're really changing something you're you're like all right now you want me to do city but i never done a city and experience what is that i'm like well if i come

[00:27:16] to Tanzania don't take me to Serengeti research shows that there are 700 million travelers who seek cultural if you experiences they don't make it to the continent they don't and those are

[00:27:28] those are the repeat travelers that we want right and we we kind of saw an interest with the Wakanda movie or when Ghana did the year of return yes do you see what happened there you know suddenly

[00:27:41] they made billion dollar in one year just because they gave a product that people could relate to beyond the wildlife and safari and that can be replicated in some ways so now the challenges local curators have to embrace immersive and cultural because it is really the future

[00:28:00] especially now so they now now now why now now is that when i was 1907 1990s the climate in Africa was not the same now we are seeing a lot of we've defintech a lot of startups a lot of young men

[00:28:14] from the diaspora coming back to the continent uh we are being more our we people on the continent local and why not we are traveling more right doors have now opened really growing up

[00:28:27] used to be that a tourism profile will be a white someone coming to Randa that's what we saw majority but that's changing and that is where the opportunity is so in terms of your packages

[00:28:41] which countries or hidden gems have you uncovered in Africa that people should look out for or consider traveling to in Africa yes i mean even if they are familiar with them we repackage it

[00:28:55] so for example in Randa in Kigali uh the package in Kigali you get to do poetry we have an indigenous group in Randa right in the city you get to go see swimming cows in Randa

[00:29:10] now they don't just have the gorillas or the monkeys in the moon way you get to do that in Tanzania where it's known for the Serengeti have you gone to Darcella and spent time in the

[00:29:20] city visit the city look at their fashion look at their food Zanzibar it's more than the beach i discovered that they have a beautiful night market food market go eat your heart out

[00:29:33] Mozambique so many beautiful relaxing beaches to go to and you see i'm i'm sort of identifying here there is another upcoming country that is actually untraveled Gine the capitalist Conakry yes wow what a beautiful country and they are really working hard for their tourism and

[00:29:53] anywhere we go in Africa we have the music the dancing they just did the festival that was so amazing and i was talking to their tourism board i'm like we need to have that on Zanier's platform and that's sometimes the challenge the tourism board are not quite responsive

[00:30:07] to an innovative idea immediately but Gine i'm dying to get to Gine Conakry soon so there you go brilliant earlier you discussed about the tech and obviously we've just spoken about the packages that you offer we know that your booking software is hugely driven by technology

[00:30:27] which enables travel suppliers to offer your packages online so how has technology played a role in scaling Zanier's operations and i guess ensuring seamless experience for both travelers and local curators absolutely even though the technology is not quite where i would like to

[00:30:46] see because that takes a lot of money i am now in a phase where we need to raise money however it's the vision i've always known i will need to have a travel tech startup we need to

[00:30:58] enable it we need to have AI so we are building their foundation even when you talk about AI people look at chat GPT it's amazing but remember data comes from somewhere that's key so when you

[00:31:10] look at my platform and booking maybe my platform interface does not look the way it will be in the future however everything we are doing behind leads us up to that so in terms of

[00:31:22] allows us to scale one we have been able to reach many local curators in many countries i mean after the pandemic we were already in over 20 destinations so that drives it and the booking

[00:31:35] software we have right now ready to go it's a local curator can come in on board most of them use their phone and they're ready to go in about 20 minutes at the most it's faster efficient

[00:31:48] and then we have a payment and an easy checkout which is also not a key you need to make sure that the customer journey on the other side is really seamless there is more to do because technology

[00:32:00] takes money to build but the vision is there and they were working on the foundation and that is allowing us to grow surely but we are gonna get there i believe you will too as you

[00:32:11] mentioned AI and new areas of functionality within tech is emerging every day every hour tech is key to what you do and how the company is scaled and with the increase of adoption of tech

[00:32:27] we've seen new ways that people are engaging with tech in terms of traveling tourism we have digitally savvy consumers that are driving the adoption of experiential packages in the travel and tourism industry so how do you believe this is changing the industry within Africa or changing

[00:32:49] what you do before we can talk about change we need to look at what's happening and seeing if we can leverage that technology to innovate and build the tourism in Africa so with AI

[00:33:03] let's take a step and really think about it let's not just be thrilled we need to understand it and again we need to know that there's a foundation we need to have data in Africa we really like

[00:33:15] data without data it's always going to pull information that may not reflect our story and what we're trying to convey yes from where i am is what is needed because we need to be

[00:33:28] with innovators in the city table where all those innovations and changes we need to be able to listen and see what's going on and where they're going to move forward there are always these conversations happening and there's a this conference i just finished in new york skift

[00:33:44] one of the biggest travel tech conference in the world the global forum and we were not there we were not there Africa was not represented not at all but the theme the common theme now

[00:33:55] you know a bmb in expedia is that is basically ai zanez is not as big as those big platform so if most local curators are tour operators are using an expedia platform and expedia has already

[00:34:10] launched the chat gpt so what does that mean to a tour operator using that platform what does it mean do we even understand how they have to write their package so that ai can pick up on

[00:34:22] those destinations there's something being missed do we have the proper data so we need to think of that you simplified people like to say i can just go and type in you know fanme destination

[00:34:34] africa and the gpt is gonna do it yeah sure but it's not gonna be quite the same as one once we've built better data second if someone is doing it maybe with the help of an ai so really africans

[00:34:50] in general zanez today zanez has to succeed for all of us to be able to leverage all this technology i can say so humbly yes i totally agree i guess with the tech the new functionality in terms

[00:35:05] of what you've mentioned in terms of data to carefully craft or narrate the african story which all fits into the wider ecosystem of the new focus or direction of african travel we all see the rise of young african travel bloggers content creators and obviously people

[00:35:26] such as yourself so what impact do you believe this is having on the african travel and tourism industry in terms of this fresh new approach in terms of crafting creating and narrating the

[00:35:39] african travel story absolutely when a content creator goes to a town and then shows you all these things to do it takes away that fear for many of us right yes okay i can go it's cool i can

[00:35:55] go and do that and yeah we need to keep doing that we need to tell more of our story so it becomes normal just people for many years all we heard was europe europe i'm sure any african my age

[00:36:07] born we knew more of europe even more than we knew our city right and so now we have to be careful how we do it let's not romanticize it let's not say what's not true right we have to be realistic

[00:36:21] in their own approach but let's also go to those places let's go to goma in the rc let's go to uvira i'm talking about those places in eastern africa where even myself when i hear about

[00:36:33] their master maturance because of the long history of wars right so let's enable those content creation to happen because also they cost we need to be able to measure that the use

[00:36:44] can find the camera um but let's not just go to the common place let's also see the whole continent 54 countries and we would have to document every city of the town it's a dream over the course of

[00:36:56] the 20 years in africa because there's so much things to see and do but working with the content creators i'm sure we can get there fantastic guys you've given your view or experience of

[00:37:08] the emerging trend or the trend that we are currently seeing of content creators so if we look outside of that and stick on the theme of trends what current trends in africans traveling tourism industry are you seeing that you're currently excited about right now it's really

[00:37:27] doing local things eating local food i remember i was watching a video about this content creator showing us local food in my every cost going to the market and eating their fish at take something similar yes i'm sure now we have all heard about the jollof

[00:37:51] that is the new that is really the new trend and i really like that you know food and then of course the afro bit really if one of those afro bit singers listening they

[00:38:02] should find me we can create magic they are really leaving money on the table if you're destined afro bit in london you should be doing it in legos next time i mean you've kind of hit

[00:38:12] something quite key there when it comes to travel it is about the experience immersing yourself within the culture whether that's the food the music the sights so yeah fantastic thank you for sharing that if we move from trends look into the future how would you see africans

[00:38:32] traveling tourism industry evolving in the next five years yes africa being 54 countries we have to say that some people think africans like one big happy country very true so we have to make sure

[00:38:45] that 54 countries and we have to move away from how the tourism was done tell the story from our lens we need to be part of innovators right we need to have anxpedia a cloak platform

[00:39:01] as any heza essentially that's where we will be able to own our own innovation and not just be the users do you see there's a key difference even with the ai we need to own that technology

[00:39:14] has to be built by us for us and from our continent it has to come from our mind that thing really drives me and you look at this guy facebook is not doing the meta glasses right

[00:39:27] but then of course he can take that to the continent and say hey you know that is that really our innovation i have so many ideas sound that i can actually help appropriately reasons

[00:39:38] but with money africans untapped but for now is that innovation it's not just what we see maybe it's what being done it's really for us to choose african as a destination and go to those

[00:39:50] destinations go to guine go to codivo go to benna i just heard see even i am learning and discovering all these places like benna something's happening in benna something's happening in the book enough so it's not just the coup de tain that they just had still

[00:40:05] a beautiful country to visit nigeria my goodness i remember i posted about the beach even though those things on linton and it was like is this in lego some yeah it's one of my high you know you talk

[00:40:17] performing a post on linton looking closer to home in the next five years as you continue your mission of showcasing african culture to the world where do you see your role in promoting african's cultural richness through travel experiences my role as a travel tech founder is

[00:40:37] to be at the table if they go to deus i want to be there if they go to new york i want to be there if they go to singapore but we want to bring those discussions at home because innovation is not

[00:40:47] just one person it's the many of us and we do that by being in the same room and sharing ideas and challenging ourselves so as they say inshallah we will see i have started i will be going to focus

[00:41:02] why a conference i am the only person from the african descent who just won that scholarship and that's good but i will be there with innovators trailblazers in the travel tech world

[00:41:14] and i'll be there to learn listen and at the same time ensure that africa is valued 54 countries that's key that we are valued from our own storytelling perspective fantastic fantastic and congratulations on the scholarship thank you quote of the week as people we often have quotes

[00:41:35] mantras african proverbs or affirmations that keep us going when times are challenging or when times are good do you have one that you can share with us today absolutely one of my favorite

[00:41:48] is i think he's attributed someone in africa an african proverb i'm not saying if you want to go fast go along if you want to go far go together and that's one of my favorite yes i do enjoy that

[00:42:02] one and it's very true and i guess it goes back in terms of what you were discussing about building an infrastructure building an ecosystem also africans working together to achieve a greater good so yeah brilliant i think that concisely ties everything together in terms of what

[00:42:20] we have discussed today so as we've come to the closer to this conversation i was wondering if you have any final calls to action closing remarks for people who are interested in the work that you're doing but just generally interested in african travel and tourism industry absolutely

[00:42:39] travel to africa and book a trip book the next tour and they experience an activity and go on us and he has a that's what i would like to invite everyone to do this is not just for me to promote

[00:42:52] the platform but they are local curators who are waiting and let's put the destination in africa first fantastic and what a way to close today's conversation so charles thank you for joining

[00:43:04] us today and showing your insights and the great work that you're doing in the world of african tourism and travel through zaneza it's clear that you're creating positive change and also a deeper appreciation and understanding for what is happening on the continent through your platform

[00:43:22] and also outside of the platform so yeah fantastic work and it's been a pleasure having you on the podcast likewise thank you so much for having me oh brilliant brilliant so yes i know it's

[00:43:35] early where you are so i'll let you get on and enjoy the rest of your day we will speak soon absolutely thank you thank you to everyone who has listened and stayed tuned to the podcast

[00:43:48] if you've enjoyed this episode please subscribe share or tell a friend about it you can also rate reviewers in apple podcast or wherever you download your podcast thank you and see you next week for the unlocking africa podcast