United We Thrive!
Forging a Sustainable Future in Hospitality
As we navigate this critical juncture, the formation of a partnership between the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and the HoteliersGuild heralds a beacon of hope and a testament to the power of collective action. In this interview, we are thrilled to introduce Anjana Raza, a pivotal figure in this collaboration. Anjana’s extensive experience and visionary leadership in the development sector are driving forces behind transformative employability programs and the innovative Net Positive Hospitality Academy. Join us as we explore her journey, insights, and the promising future of our shared mission.
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ANJANA RAZA Head of Training & Development
Anjana is responsible for managing our Employability Programmes and the development of our groundbreaking new Net Positive Hospitality Academy, ensuring professional development opportunities for young people, marginalise groups and hospitality professionals. She is the Alliance Lead for the Supply Chain Optimisation Standing Committee.
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The Alliance is very much looking anticipated SIRIUSACADEMYAWARD. the same ethos - for instance Employability Programmes around job opportunities to young people. the SIRIUSACADEMYAWARD the future of the hospitality industry where the industry gives
United We Thrive!
Empowering Change: Anjana’s Vision for Net Positive Hospitality and Social Impact”
In this interview, Frank M. Pfaller speaks with Anjana, the driving force behind transformative employability programs and the innovative Net Positive Hospitality Academy. With over 20 years of experience in the development sector across South Asia, Anjana discusses her journey, her role in optimizing supply chains, and her commitment to creating professional opportunities for young people, marginalized groups, and hospitality professionals. Discover how her leadership is shaping the future of sustainable hospitality and social impact.
looking forward to the muchSIRIUSACADEMYAWARD. The Alliance shares it drives the groundbreaking around the world, which bring people. There's no doubt that AWARDCAMPAIGN can help shape industry towards Net Positiveback more than it takes.
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Q1: Anjana, it's a pleasure to have you here and we were especially looking forward to this session with you with respect to your amazing work in developing opportunities for young people that aligns perfectly with our initiatives. Can you tell us about your role in managing the Employability Programmes and the development of the new World Academy for Sustainable Hospitality?
" My role regarding the Employability programme is to manage the overall development and quality of the programme, ensure that we and all our partners continue to hold disadvantaged youth who have the potential to join the hospitality sector, as the core focus and driving force for all strategies, tactics and delivery. It includes keeping a very firm finger on the pulse of what young people and dis-included groups are saying, as well as the unfolding appetite and desire of the hospitality industry to be a force for good on all sustainability matters reflected through ESG. And based on that, finding the right opportunities for collaborative action across stakeholders including social, private, public and community organisations. This approach carries over to the Academy as we endeavour to provide the same level of care and support to all workers, in hotels across the world, as start
their journey on the path to sustainability.
Q2: You are also the Alliance Lead for the Supply Chain Optimisation Standing Committee. How does this tie into the broader ESG goals of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and HoteliersGuild member hoteliers?
"For hotels to achieve their ESG goals they need all staff to be aware of and sensitive to sustainability issues. Its when we understand the problem and how we may be contributing to it, is when we are ready to change our own behaviour. The Academy is to support all hotel staff – from front line workers to GMs to understand sustainability issues most material to the hospitality sector and change their behaviour in their daily routine work. The Academy courses are simple to follow and execute and bespoke for the hospitality sector. By developing these and making them available to the entire sector across the world, the Alliance aims to support the sector in achieving its ESG goals and increase its sustainability impact.
Q3: With over 20 years of experience in the development sector, particularly in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, how have your previous roles shaped your approach to the challenges in the hospitality sector?
"My development sector experience was related to field work, working closely with communities and individuals in rural and urban areas. Concepts and plans on paper are easy to develop but implementing them is very different as life is messy and lots of factors influence implementation. These live experiences and multidimensional factors can not be noted in proposals or understood while working at a desk. That field work and working with communities and groups of people enables me to bring those ‘unseen’ or ‘unreported’ factors into the work for the hospitality sector. And as in both instances we are dealing with and trying to support people, the platform of development sector or private sector makes no difference as the work is related to human beings not inanimate institutions.
Q4: The SIRIUSAWARDCAMPAIGN is a significant part of our collaboration. How do you see this initiative evolving, and what impact do you foresee it having on the hospitality industry?
"The Alliance is very much looking forward to the much-anticipated SIRIUSACADEMYAWARD. The Alliance shares the same ethos - for instance it drives the groundbreaking Employability Programmes around the world, which bring job opportunities to
young people. There's no doubt that the SIRIUSACADEMYAWARD can help shape the future of the hospitality industry towards Net Positive - where the industry gives back more than it takes.
Q5: Finally, with your extensive background in charity projects and fundraising, how do you integrate these skills into advancing the goals of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and the HoteliersGuild?
"I think the key difference is that my approach has never been of ‘charity’ but of ‘enabling’ others to avail of opportunities and realise their best. And that is what the Alliance does – enable the hospitality sector to avail of all opportunities to do its best, individually and in collaboration.
Thank you so much, Anjana, for sharing your inspiring journey and insights with us today. It has been a real pleasure to delve into the impactful work you’re doing. We look forward with great enthusiasm to the successful continuation of this exciting collaboration between the HoteliesGuild and the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance. Together, we'll try to pave the way for a brighter, more sustainable future in hospitality.
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