BY Aurelia Mbokazi-Kashe
Lindi Mthethwa, Regional Director of Sales & Marketing for Minor Hotels, is a tourism veteran with over two decades of selling key properties in the Southern and East Southern Africa regions. Her instincts as a natural-born leader have propelled her career to greater heights, where she’s been punching the glass ceiling and achieved career firsts for a black female. With her focus and zeal, she continues to craft a strong legacy in the sector.
I’ve been in the hospitality and tourism industry for 20 years. I started my career at the Sandton Convention Centre as an events coordinator and then moved to various units within Tsogo Sun Group in Sales.
What exactly do you do and where?
I head up the sales and marketing department for Minor Hotels in Africa. With this, I’m responsible for leading the team of sales and marketing people in the Johannesburg regional office and the sales and marketing teams at eight hotels in the region namely:
- The Royal Livingstone Hotel by Anantara (Zambia)
- Avani Victoria Falls Resort (Zambia)
- Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort (Mozambique)
- Avani Maseru Hotel (Lesotho)
- Avani Lesotho Hotel & Casino (Lesotho)
- Avani Gaborone Resort & Casino (Botswana)
- Avani Windhoek Hotel & Casino (Namibia)
- Avani Pemba Beach Hotel (Mozambique)
I’m responsible for the implementation of group sales and marketing strategies and driving local and international sales and targets.
My team and I also cross-sell our East Africa brand Elewana, which has 16 luxury safari camps and a beach resort in Zanzibar. We also include 2 Anantara beach resorts in Mauritius and Seychelles.
My career highlight is being the first black female Regional Director in the Minor Hotel group which over 18,000 employees worldwide
The main challenges for me having been breaking the glass ceiling in a male dominated Director- level position and the Covid pandemic. For the survival of our business during lockdowns, we had to quickly change our strategy and effect new campaigns and packages that focused on domestic markets.
My family motivates me to bring my very best in everything I do. They play a huge role in my life, my drive and ambition to flourish. My passion to succeed and leave a legacy in the industry.
When booking a holiday for myself and family, I first consider location. Picking the best location can mean the difference between a miserable or enjoyable hotel stay. It is nice to have a choice of one or two on-site restaurants at the hotel after a long day of traveling and exploring. There must be activities for the whole family to enjoy, a swimming pool is usually a crowd-pleaser for my family. There must be a spa for me to enjoy some downtime
I try to go on holiday at least once every three months. My recent trip was a long weekend away with my family to Cape Town.
My favourite part of my holiday was bonding with my kids. I travel a lot for work so being able to create memories with my children is really important to me. Experiencing new destinations, new experiences and cultures. We love outdoor and adventure with some busking in the sun relaxing on the beach.
Women’s Month is an affirmation of the strides that woman in this country have made towards achieving personal and career growth. As women, we’ve always worked hard to deliver results. It means that we shouldn’t have to prove ourselves any more. I am proud of what we have accomplished particularly in this industry and what we continue to achieve.
The mantra that I live by is: Dream it, believe it and do it!
