Tourism is the world’s largest job creator and Open Africa stimulates rural development by leveraging communities’ collective tourism assets. It does this by connecting remote areas with travel markets in a competitively sustainable and innovative way. It starts with identifying products and clustering entrepreneurs into branded networks that strengthen their combined power and market appeal.
What We Do
Entrepreneurs are connected to customers through the Open Africa website and other marketing platforms. It turns conservation into a wealth creator and builds capacity through sharing knowledge and experience in a network that embraces them continuously thereafter.
We Work With Communities To
- Link existing community-based tourism businesses (e.g. accommodation providers, tour guides, local artisans) into off-the-beaten track, self-drive routes, clustering travel attractions in an area for travellers to explore;
- Identify enterprise opportunities along a route and match them with potential or existing entrepreneurs willing to take these up;
- Help develop the business concept, product development and branding, as needed;
- Build capacity through training workshops and mentorship programmes using specialised partners as needed; training varies per project, but can include the development of technical, entrepreneurial and life skills;
- Create linkages to access markets using Open Africa routes as platforms;
- Market routes by transferring marketing know-how and skills to local entrepreneurs and showcasing their offering on an innovative travel portal and through other marketing initiatives;
- Install monitoring and evaluation tools to track route challenges and outcomes; and
- Enhance conservation through monitoring of a flagship plant or animal species along a travel route, educating local people about their environment as a potential wealth creator.