Business a.m. Reporter
Lagos Business School (LBS), Africa’s leading business school, has appointed Jameel Verjee, founder and chief executive officer of CityBlue Hotels, to the advisory board of LBS Hospitality Initiative alongside industry heavyweights Trevor Ward and Mossadeck Bally.
Belinda Nwosu, academic director, LBS Hospitality Initiative, explained that the Initiative is a platform for developing and growing the hospitality industry in Nigeria and Africa, anchored on four main pillars – Advisory, Engagement, Research, and Capacity Building.
CityBlue Hotels is a hospitality and technology business built from the ground up over the last decade across sub-Saharan Africa with operations in five countries and has significant expansion plans.
CityBlue says by partnering with LBS Hospitality Initiative, it hopes to accelerate its expansion into West Africa to complement its plan to open in Accra, Ghana, later this year.
A statement made available to Business a.m. said the partnership will strengthen the company’s focus on executive leadership development and critically, expand CityBlue’s ESG and governance strategy across sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaking about the partnership at the recently held Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), Nwosu remarked, “We are happy that Jameel accepted to join our advisory board as his skill set, demonstrable resilience, and range of experiences in Africa will benefit our goal to co-create solutions for regional players and proactively build a pipeline of local talents for executive leadership in the hospitality industry.”
Jameel, also at AHIF, expressed his excitement at the opportunity to collaborate with Lagos Business School: “We are excited to take the next step for our group, both in partnership with LBS Hospitality Initiative and to learn from Belinda and her team. Nigeria has the largest population in Africa and the most potential for knowledge-based, tech-driven growth. This is both an honour and an opportunity for us”.
According to an explanatory statement, the partnership between LBS Hospitality Initiative and CityBlue Hotels will, among other things, revolutionise executive development in the hospitality industry in Africa, which aligns with the vision of Lagos Business School to develop responsible leaders to inspire Africa’s growth.
