Vanessa Mbenoun

Vanessa Mbenoun is a tourism entrepreneur with over 10 years’ experience in the travel industry. She is based in South Africa and is the founder of Creative And Moving, a tourism and hospitality marketing agency and of Kamaroutes, an award-winning inbound tour operator. For the past 5 years, Vanessa has  mentored and assisted young entrepreneurs in Southern Africa in building and growing their travel brands. She has also partnered with institutions like the University of Johannesburg, Tshwane University of Technology and Nedbank to guide final year university students and graduates and assist their transition into the world of entrepreneurship. Vanessa believes in the power of responsible tourism and how it can develop Africa and empower its people not only today but also in the future.

She recently launched the Tourism Entrepreneur Podcast, an educative talk show aiming to connect African “tourismpreneurs” to the rest of the world. The podcast showcases global travel and hospitality innovators, their stories and how they overcame their various challenges. The show also explores new trends and developments in the tourism industry and how they affect the global
economy.

Vanessa is currently completing her MBA at the TUT Business School in Pretoria. She was one of the few African entrepreneurs selected by Airbnb for their prestigious African tourism innovators programme. In 2019, she won the coveted African Tourism Leadership Forum’s outstanding entrepreneurship award for her contribution to the African Travel and Tourism industry. Earlier this year, she also made the list of Tropics Magazine’s top 500 African Doers.