| After an incredibly successful 25-year journey, Mr. Mahmud ‘Jan’ Mohamed, the Managing Director and CEO of TPS Serena Hotels Africa, has retired.
His truly visionary leadership has firmly established Serena Hotels as a leading hospitality brand in the East African Region if not across Africa and ATCNews would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation for his invaluable contributions to tourism in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Mozambique.
Following the approval of Mr. Mahmud Jan Mohamed’s retirement, the TPS Eastern Africa PLC Board of Directors has just announced the appointment of Mr. Ashish Sharma as the incoming Managing Director and CEO of TPS Serena Hotels, Africa.
Mr. Sharma brings with him over 34 years of valuable experience in various business domains, including Tourism & Hospitality. He has demonstrated strategic expertise in growth and development and his diverse background in hotel management, finance and operations makes him a fitting choice to lead Serena Hotels into the future.
ATCNews and its publisher, yours truly, thank Jan for his unwavering friendship and support throughout the years and recognizes his immense contribution to tourism and the hospitality business not only in Kenya but the entire region.
I have personally known Jan from his days as Resident Manager at the Mombasa Serena in the mid 1970’s, then known as the Serena Beach Hotel.
Colleagues at Serena Hotels for some time, when Jan was Operations Manager and yours truly Sales and Marketing Manager – in those days the title ‘Director’ was only held by members of the company board or the Managing Director – did our career paths then take different turns, with Jan remaining at Serena Hotels and yours truly returning to active safari operations, first employed and then as an independent operator before eventually branching out into consulting, the academic side of tourism and active tourism trade association work.
Despite my move to Uganda in the early 1990’s did Jan and I stay in close contact throughout the years and the Travel Group for several years was Serena Hotels’ primary representative in Uganda, before the takeover of the Nile Hotel and the reopening of the Kampala Serena Hotel then saw the group establish a direct presence in the Ugandan market.
Jan, you have been a very important part of the Serena journey and I wish you a well earned retirement from official duties, although we both know, who has tourism and hospitality in his or her blood the way we two do, will never really come to a complete standstill. |
