Africa’s leading Business School, Lagos Business School (LBS), has appointed Jameel Verjee, founder and CEO of CityBlue Hotels (www.CityBlueHotels.com/), Africa’s fastest-growing local hotel chain, to the advisory board of LBS Hospitality Initiative alongside industry heavyweights Trevor Ward and Mossadeck Bally. 

The Academic Director of LBS Hospitality Initiative, Dr Belinda Nwosu FIH, stated that the Initiative is a platform for developing and growing the hospitality industry in Nigeria and Africa, anchored on four main pillars – Advisory, Engagement, Research, and Capacity Building.

CityBlue Hotels, a hospitality and technology business built from the ground up over the last decade across sub-Saharan Africa, has operations in five countries with significant expansion plans. By partnering with LBS Hospitality Initiative, CityBlue hopes to accelerate its expansion into West Africa to complement its plan to open in Accra, Ghana, later this year.

This partnership will strengthen the company’s focus on executive leadership development and critically, expand CityBlue’s ESG and governance strategy across sub-Saharan Africa. Speaking about the partnership at the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), Dr. Belinda Nwosu remarked, “We are happy that Jameel accepted to join our advisory board as his skill set, demonstrable resilience, and range of experiences in Africa will benefit our goal to cocreate solutions for regional players and proactively build a pipeline of local talents for executive leadership in the hospitality industry.”

On his part, at AHIF, Jameel expressed his excitement at the opportunity to collaborate with Lagos Business School; “We are excited to take the next step for our group, both in partnership with LBS Hospitality Initiative and to learn from Belinda and her team. Nigeria has the largest population in Africa and the most potential for knowledge-based, tech-driven growth. This is both an honor and an opportunity for us”.  

This partnership between LBS Hospitality Initiative and CityBlue Hotels will, among other things, revolutionise executive development in the hospitality industry in Africa, which aligns with the vision of Lagos Business School to develop responsible leaders to inspire Africa’s growth.