Tanzania: Mount Meru Hotel to hire 276 staff

"The 178 room Mount Meru Hotel will change the landscape of hospitality in Arusha," said Rafique Symonette, managing director of Inflection Capital, which represents the property's owners, the Southern African Enterprise Development Fund.

"Those 276 positions will make it one of the larger employers in the hospitality industry in the city."

Positions in various divisions

Symonette said that 147 of these positions would be created in the Food and Beverage Department, which will run four restaurants on the property, while the Rooms Division will create 75 positions, and the rest will work in administration and support services.

He said that Holtan, the company contracted to complete the building of the hotel, was currently employing 400 people on the project - the majority of whom are drawn from the local community, and have been employed over the last eighteen months.

Using local talent

"The Southern African Enterprise Development Fund has committed itself to using local talent in all departments of the hotel, and we aim to have the hotel managed and run entirely by Tanzanians within one year of opening," said Symonette.

Apart from direct, formal income generated by the salaries it will pay, Mount Meru Hotel is expected to boost the local economy through the establishment of small and micro enterprise within Arusha and the surrounding region.

"The hotel expects to purchase fresh produce from local communities - which will boost local economies by creating a secure and reliable market for small vegetable growers," said Symonette.