Swiss hospitality schools in Africa
Rainbow unlimited gmbh started focusing on the African hospitality skills sector as early as 2013. The underlying approach from the beginning was to offer the same top level vocational training as in Switzerland, but in the countries where the students are, and to a fraction of the costs applicable abroad (“offshore education”). We partnered up with one of the top Swiss hospitality schools, the Business & Hotel Management School (www.bhms.ch), based in Lucerne/Switzerland. Upon our introduction to a local partner, a first school was opened in 2015 in Nairobi/Kenya, the Boma International Hospitality College (www.bihc.ac.ke). Starting with 37 students, the college has since grown to over 700 students.
In 2019, we brought BHMS together with the largest provider of private education in Egypt, the Cairo for Investment and Real Estate Development (CIRA). In a first step, a Swiss 3-years bachelor program was introduced in the business faculty of CIRA’s Badr University in Cairo (www.buc.edu.eg) and started with a first group of students in September 2020. In 2022, CIRA will open a fully-fledged Hospitality Academy.
In 2020, on introduction from our side, BHMS opened a hospitality college in Windhoek/Namibia jointly with the biggest hotel operation in the country, the United Africa Group. The Windhoek Hospitality & Culinary College (http://whcc.com.na) opened its doors for a first intake in September 2020.
In June 2021, BMHS signed with our support an agreement with Eagles Properties Ghana (www.eaglesghana.com) for the setting up of a Swiss-Ghanaian hospitality school in Takoradi/Ghana. Operations will start with industry courses later this year, and the school will open early 2022.
Negotiations for a hospitality school in Nigeria are presently ongoing.
Early 2021, rainbow unlimited gmbh won a tender issued by the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) for “Vocational Education and Training in the Hospitality Sector in Africa” over 4 years. The project requires the organisation of VET courses in the sector, including a classroom instruction portion at a vocational school in Africa and a workplace training portion at a host company in Africa. First courses will commence in September 2021 at the Swiss school in Nairobi for students from Nigeria and Cameroon, followed by The Gambia at the beginning of 2022.
For more information about B.H.M.S. please consult www.bhms.ch.
