Gondwana Collection hosts annual leadership meeting

Gondwana Collection Namibia recently convened over 100 of its senior leaders for the 2025 Annual Management Meeting.

The meeting was a three-day gathering focused on strategic alignment, people development, leadership recognition and ensuring real connections with colleagues through play and having fun.

The agenda featured high-level planning sessions, team-building activities, and a celebration of employee contributions to learning and development across the group.

Key discussions during the meeting centred on how the organisation can adapt to a fast-changing tourism landscape, with a strong emphasis on internal leadership growth, digital transformation and cross-functional collaboration.

Group human resource manager Jana Burger delivered a keynote address that framed the meeting’s theme: that investing in people is not a human resource function alone, but a strategic imperative.

“Developing people is not a cost, it’s the greatest investment we can make,” Burger said.

“The next chapter demands that we continue to nurture talent and create spaces where growth is encouraged, not resisted,” she added.

Leadership teams also reviewed the outcomes of ongoing training programmes, shared insights across lodges, and examined tools to prepare team members for multi-skilled roles, an emerging need within the competitive hospitality sector.

A central moment in the programme was the recognition of 19 team leaders for their commitment to learning, development and culture initiatives within Gondwana Collection.

These individuals were praised for championing mentorship, guiding interns, supporting apprenticeships and implementing new training practices within their respective teams.

Among those recognised was Mauritz Nortje who leads the systems team. Nortje was acknowledged for revamping training methods, introducing more individualised skills sessions and mentoring Go4Gold leadership candidates.

His team also played a key role in the development and roll-out of the Gondwana Online Academy, a digital learning platform now used across the group.

Also honoured was Canyon Collection collection manager Mattanja van der Vis, who has actively supported the cross-lodge placements of colleagues and skills development. Her efforts include promoting staff enrolment in ‘train the trainer’ programmes through the Namibia Academy for Tourism and Hospitality and facilitating recognition of prior learning certifications through the Namibia Training Authority.

As part of the programme, all colleagues took part in a sport afternoon, fashioned in the style of ‘Squid Games’.

We challenged our colleagues to take a moment and reflect: when was the last time we really played, truly letting go of structure, ego and expectation, and just played?

At Gondwana Collection, we know leadership is serious work. We manage teams, we shape experiences, we serve guests, we care for nature. But in the rush of performance, deadlines and duties, we often forget one of the most powerful tools we have as leaders: play.

Yes – play. It’s not just for children. It’s not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

Play breaks down walls. It reminds us that behind every title is a human being with dreams, fears, humour and heart. When we play together, we drop the masks. We become real. And that’s where trust is built.

At Gondwana Collection, we say “people matter.” And if people matter, then relationships matter. And if relationships matter then we must invest in how we connect, how we grow, how we come together as a team.

That’s what play does, it reconnects us to each other and to the joys of working with purpose.

The work we do is not just a job. It’s a calling. We are custodians of stories, of landscapes, of culture. And we can’t lead that legacy if we are disconnected, burnt out or hardened by stress.

The event concluded with a celebratory dinner and live performance by The Undivided Band, which brought the energy and community spirit of Gondwana Collection to life.

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