TUI Care Foundation and enpact launch Tourism Recovery Programme: Mentors from across the tourism industry to support 315 young tourism businesses from Egypt, Mexico, South Africa and Kenya in coping with the challenges of the Corona crisis
- Professional experts from the international tourism industry are invited to apply to be mentors in the programme and support participating entrepreneurial teams
- Approx. 1,000 participants will receive six months’ training, targeted business mentoring and financial support
- Key focus on small and medium-sized enterprises that have a positive social or environmental impact in their region
- Programme supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
The mentoring programme, which will take place between November 2021 and January 2022, will provide tailored guidance through individual sessions with experts from across the global tourism industry. The TUI Care Foundation and enpact are currently recruiting experienced industry professionals from a range of functional areas including finance, marketing, sales, sustainability and business or product development, with other relevant fields of expertise also welcome. Tourism industry professionals and business development experts can apply to become mentors via the TUI Care Foundation or enpact websites until the 12th of September.
Lucia De Carlo, the Head of Division for the Cooperation with the Private Sector and Sustainable Economic Policy at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) said when welcoming the participants: “The promotion of sustainable development through tourism is more urgent than ever. The whole tourism value chain has been hit hard over the past year, due to the pandemic. Jobs have been lost, livelihoods endangered, biodiversity threatened, and especially vulnerable groups have suffered the most. My Ministry has therefore initiated a comprehensive programme. It paves the way for partner countries towards a more resilient and sustainable tourism landscape. Our measures help local tourism providers sustain themselves financially during the crisis, preserve their infrastructure, and prepare the industry for sustainable and resilient reconstruction.” Lucia De Carlo also expressed that she is especially glad to be able to continue the cooperation with enpact and the TUI Care Foundation that started last year. “The programme has directly supported 330 companies from six countries with great success. It provided innovative entrepreneurs with a great deal of expertise, financial support, and valuable networks. Despite the ongoing crisis, the participants were able to gain more confidence and further develop and advance their businesses.”
Felix Ruf, Head of Component of Sustainable Development through Tourism for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, added that “the programme will not only help to make tourism emerge stronger from the crisis, but also contribute to sustainable development with the broadest possible impact. We're very proud to have such strong partners like enpact, and the TUI Care Foundation.”
The tourism industry contributes 10% of the global economic output and is responsible for one in every ten jobs around the world. The Tourism Recovery Programme builds on this industry potential by delivering a development plan for the participating businesses, to support their recovery and growth through the ongoing pandemic. It provides a framework to maximise the impact of socially, environmentally or technologically innovative tourism enterprises and creates strong ties with the European travel market, ensuring the infrastructural recovery of these travel destinations.
The Tourism Recovery Programme draws on the experience of the previous COVID-19 Relief Programme for Tourism, which concluded in June 2021. 352 participants from 150 tourism businesses in Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia and Jordan benefitted from the same opportunity. Overall, 1213 employees and over 3000 indirect stakeholders, suppliers and partner organisations benefitted from the programme.
Both the Tourism Recovery Programme and the COVID-19 Relief Programme for Tourism are part of the Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative by enpact which was created to provide direct support for entrepreneurs in emerging tourism markets and help them overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
About TUI Care Foundation
Building on the potential of tourism as a force for good, the TUI Care Foundation supports and initiates projects which create new opportunities and contribute to thriving communities in tourism destinations all over the world. Connecting holidaymakers to good causes, it supports education and training opportunities for young people; drives the protection of natural habitats and the marine environment; and helps local communities to thrive sustainably and benefit from tourism. The TUI Care Foundation builds on strong partnerships with local and international organisations to create meaningful and long-lasting impact. The independent charitable organisation was founded by TUI, one of the world's leading tourism businesses, and is based in the Netherlands.
About enpact e.V.
enpact is a Berlin-headquartered non-profit organisation empowering entrepreneurship, ecosystems and international cooperation. The organisation was founded in 2013 with the goal of promoting entrepreneurship in emerging and developing countries. enpact supports young entrepreneurs and ecosystem actors from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America through a variety of products clustered in three business areas: entrepreneurial support, organisational support and data & research. Among its flagship products are mentoring programmes, capacity building programmes, coworking spaces, delegations, data-based consulting, as well as analysing and evaluating the founder-friendliness of cities. At present, enpact’s network consists of 2500+ startups, 600+ mentors and experts and 150+ support organisations in 30+ countries. 10000+ jobs have been created as a direct result of enpact’s work with startups.
The Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative was developed by the non-profit organisation enpact e.V. and was launched in 2020 with two programmes designed to deliver economic relief from the COVID-19 crisis. The Tourism Recovery Programme is the third standalone programme of the initiative, aimed to support the resilience and recovery of businesses in the tourism sector. The COVID-19 Relief Programme is supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is implemented together with enpact and TUI Care Foundation.
