RONALD NGALA UTALII COLLEGE:

Kilifi County

BOARD CHAIRMAN VISITS HEAD OFFICE AND REGIONAL OFFICES:

The hospitality industry is lauded as one of the top three revenue earners among Kenya's economic sector. The hospitality sector brings a lot of revenue to the Kenyan government thus it is key to improve the type of service the industry has to offer. Ronald Ngala Utalii College a hospitality institution being built by Tourism Fund is as of December 2022 at 77.74% completion. The institution is situated in Vipingo, Kilifi county. The aim of the college is to blend the traditional model of hospitality education with hands-on learning, exciting internships, insightful industry visits and cutting- edge hospitality knowledge.

When Complete Ronald Ngala Utalii College is expected to be one of the best hospitality institutions in East and Central Africa. The college is projected to annually graduate about 3,000 on campus students who will go a long way in positioning Kenya as a leading education tourism education tourism destination.

The institution features state of the art study halls, restaurant, well equipped kitchens, equipped cruise ship training, modern hostels, a wellequipped library, student centre, games and sports centre, staff and faculty quarters among other amenities.

The president on 17th February 2023 appointed Mr. Samson Kipkoech Some as the new chairman of the Tourism Fund board of trustees. Mr Samson took over the position from Mr. Alphonse Kioko who headed the board for a period of 3 years. Mr. Some is a great resource to the organization as he has been involved in the tourism industry for a number of years. He is well known by several tourism stakeholders and in addition he is well versed with how the tourism industry works.

When Mr. Some joined the fund his major concern was staff and their welfare thus he organized a visit to all offices, regional and head office in order to meet and interact with the staff. He began with a visit to the West Kenya regional office after which he proceeded to the North Rift Regional office. In both offices he was received warmly and the staff enjoyed every interaction they had with him. He visited the Central Kenya region, coast regional office and the head office and the reception was still as warm as it was in the other regions.

Every region had their own unique way of receiving the chairman. The staff cut cake, offered coconut water (madafu) and presented gifts, the welcome was indeed special. In every region the chairman emphasized on the importance of meeting targets as a team and working together as one.