The academy works with its partners in the hospitality industry in the United States of America (USA) and The Netherlands to provide global cultural education exchange internship placement experience for young people aged 18 to 35.
According to the programme’s founder, Simon Williams, the academy has a full recruiting licence in Namibia as a recruiting agency with the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations, and Employment Creation, as well as certification from world-renowned Global J-1 Internship Sponsors Partners in USA and The Netherlands.
“The programme provides an essential critical talent development platform for young people to gain international hospitality expertise, skills, and passion by training, hands-on experience and learning by doing in five-star hospitality establishments, alongside the most globally experienced mentors and business executives from around the world,” Williams says.
According to him, the programme also develops international competence for mentorship leadership and a holistic understanding of the importance of experiential learning by doing, which is one of AfriYoung’s core objectives to ensure sustainability for a win-win business collaboration philosophy and talent development for Namibian youth and Africa’s tourism human capital and valuable inclusive quality education.
“This programme operates in the same manner as the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) placements in Namibia, except that our programme allows our interns or trainees to earn in foreign currency. We placed 16 young African women hoteliers at the Fifa World Cup in Doha last year, and about 24 young Namibian hoteliers in the USA.”
Chef Primus Akwenye completed a 12-month culinary arts programme at West Palm Beach Gardens in Florida through this programme last year, and is now working at Flamingo Villas Boutique in Namibia.
He described the programme as a platform for young chefs to hone their hospitality skills.
Chef Wessels Shifugula, who also participated in the programme, believes the skills he gained will help him land a better, higher-paying job in a managerial position.
“The programme is a great way to gain experience on international standards of hospitality operations, it was a great way to travel and experience new sites, and it was a great way to be introduced to new cultural traditions and new people,” Shifugula says.
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