Newly appointed AICC managing director, Ephraim Mafuru. PHOTO | FILE
BySummary
· Mafuru joins the Arusha International Conference Centre at a time when its Arusha-based convention centre has lost its shine and its tenants to other modern buildings in Arusha city
Arusha. Ephraim Balozi Mafuru, the newly appointed managing
director of the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC), has a herculean
task ahead of him.
He will have to ensure Arusha-based
convention centre is back on the rails in an increasingly changing convention
tourism market.
Ideally that means enabling the AICC
Arusha to attract more conferences to its meeting halls and its landmark office
block, now half empty. AICC owns two major conference centres, the one based in
Arusha, which carries the name of the institution and the Dar es Salaam-based
Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre (JNICC).
Until his appointment by President
Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday, Mr Mafuru was the Head of Corporate Affairs of
Kilombero Sugar Company Limited (KSCL) located in Morogoro region.
He joins the AICC with a wealth of
knowledge and experience in strategic communications blended with commercial
advocacy.
At Kilombero, he dealt with public
and media relations, government relations, compliance and stakeholders’
engagement. Ephraim Mafuru is a respected name in the marketing arena, having
spearheaded the branding strategies of several bluechip firms in the market.
Prior to joining KSCL, he served as
marketing director for Serengeti Breweries Ltd (SBL), a subsidiary of East
African Breweries Limited (EABL). He holds an MBA from the University of Dar es
salaam Business School (UDBS), BCom in Marketing (UDBS) and a Diploma in
Business Administration (Marketing) from the College of Business Education
(CBE) Dar es Salaam.
Mafuru started his carrier with Kibo
Breweries Limited as a sales representative in Dar es Salaam and then moved to
Morogoro and Dodoma. After spending time in sales and distribution, he joined
the firm’s marketing department as an assistant brand manager for Malta
Guinness.
Mafuru spearheaded the test market
and launch of Malta Guinness, the first locally produced malt energy drink in
Tanzania. During that time, the brand grew from 0 to 45,000 cases per month in
only 12 months of its existence.
During the merger of EABL and SAB
Miller, Mafuru was one of the few employees who were retained, and he was
promoted to the role of brand manager for EABL brands, taking charge of Tusker,
Pilsner Ice, Guinness and Malta Guinness.
Mafuru later joined Vodacom Tanzania
as marketing manager in July 2005. He managed several projects that have helped
Vodacom Tanzania become the leading cellular company.
He was one of the brains behind such
brand positioning activities as Vodacom Miss Tanzania, Vodacom Premier League,
Mwanza Cycle Challenge, Vodacom Kilimanjaro 5km Fun Run, and several brand
campaigns, including Vodacom’s 5th Birthday, VodaMillionaire, Shinda Mkoko, Nipige
Tafu, “Habari Ndiyo Hii!” 2006 FIFA World Cup Consumer Promotion, and Vodacom’s
brand campaign “Pamoja Daima,” among others.
Tough task ahead
Mafuru is joining the AICC at a time
when the Arusha-based convention centre has lost its shine as the country’s
brand for ‘bringing the world’ to Tanzania.
Tens of hundreds of delegates who
used to fill the AICC’s meeting halls or mill around its premises during
conferences are now rare.
Hundreds of the office spaces at the
seven-storey, three-winged complex in the heart of Arusha are half empty for
lack of tenants.
This is not necessarily because the
management has slept on their job though it is a fact that the position of
managing director had been vacant since July 2021 following the death of
Elishilia Kaaya who served in that position for over 16 years. In its long
history, the AICC has never received a subsidy from the government, even during
challenging times.
But there is no contention that AICC
is now operating in a different environment compared to when it was established
in 1978.
Years ago, the centre used to
monopolise the conference sector, probably because it was the only facility
with modern conference facilities.
Ever since, especially after the
liberalisation of the economy, there have been many players in the convention
industry, mainly hotels.
The changed government policies on
public expenditure on conferences and the Covid-19 outbreak were another blow
to AICC’s core business.
Alongside the reduced number of
conference delegates, it lost tenants for its large office blocks and business
areas. This was especially noticeable following the dissolution of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which used to occupy more
than half of the 23,000 square metres of office space.
Mr Mafuru’s appointment has been
welcomed by the tourism industry and related stakeholders in Arusha, the
country’s Safari capital.
They regretted that the centre had
not had a substantive MD for a long time. “He will lighten up activities at the
centre,” said one of them.
The AICC also has 650 housing units
scattered throughout Arusha’s suburbs since the 1970s, as well as recently
constructed residential flats.
Even though the residential units
were a reliable source of income for the parastatal, landlord and tenant
disputes have resulted in multiple court proceedings.
The AICC has lately grappled with
some stalled projects. They include the proposed construction of a conference
facility in Arusha to be known as the Mt Kilimanjaro International Convention
Centre (MK-ICC).
Top notch consultants were hired
from the University of Dar es Salaam to work on the massive project that was
estimated to cost a whooping $206 million.
A 23-acre plot was secured at Themi
along the Njiro road southeast of Arusha for the proposed facility that was to
include shopping malls, a hotel, and eating joints.
The new convention centre was
conceived way back in 2008. It is now evident that MK-ICC will have to wait
much longer.
When an additional convention centre
project simply failed to take off, there was another one to construct; a
shopping mall at Kaloleni.
Several old residential buildings
owned by the AICC since the 1970s were pulled down to pave way for new blocks,
a joint venture with one of the pension funds.
No comments:
Post a Comment