ABTA CELEBRATES WINNER OF WRITING CONTEST

NANTA President, Mr. Bankole Bernard, congratulates Otti Faustina flanked by her mother Mrs. Otti Mary and Mr. Ewos Iroro, Founder, NTEC & Editor, Travel & Business News at the ABTA Forum in Lagos

The African Business Travel Association (ABTA), recently held its Lagos Forum and South African Travel Buyers Fam Trip at the Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

As part of the days activities was a Youth Empowerment Session where ABTA is helping to raise future Travel Professionals and encouraging young Nigerians by sponsoring the National Travel Essay Competition (NTEC) organised by Travel & Business News.

Mr. Hafeez Balogun, Country Manager, Kenya Airways,
offering Faustina a free ticket to the admiration of Monique Swart

Winner of the 2016 edition, Otti Faustina of Barachel Model College,Ota, Ogun State was at the forum to share her experience with business and trade professionals of how winning the writing contest has changed her life. She attended the forum as the Industry Ambassador in the company of her Mother, Mrs. Otti Mary Adetutu and School Teacher, Mr. Ojo-Ibukun David Oluwafemi. The topic of her essay was: “Human Factors In Air Transport Safety.”

For winning the contest, Otti Faustina took home a cheque of N100,000 and a free ticket to Dubai courtesy of RwandAir. Unfortunately she was unable to use the ticket. But in what could be described as an emotional atmosphere filled with tears of joy by everyone in the room, Kenya Airways offered a free ticket to Dubai to Otti Faustina, her mother and teacher as a way of celebrating her courage and success. Country Manager of Kenya Airways, Mr Hafeez Balogun was on hand to graciously make the announcement and congratulate Faustina.

Miss Lola Adefope, GM, HRG, sharing a word with
Otti Faustina as her new Mentor as Ewos Iroro watches

ABTA Founder, Monique Swart, said it was a pleasure for ABTA to support the writing contest as part of its contributions to building professionalism and encouraging young talents from the grassroots level as a way of ensuring a brighter future both for the industry and these budding talents.

Ewos Iroro, Founder, NTEC & Editor of Travel and Business News thanked ABTA and Kenya Airways for their support and called on other well-meaning organisations to join in supporting the noble initiative. He also used the opportunity to hand over Faustina to her new Industry Mentor in the person of Miss Lola Adefope, General Manager of HRG.

Mr. Hafeez Balogun in a group picture with Otti Faustina, her
Mother, School Teacher, Mr. Ojo-Ibukun David and Ewos Iroro 

Now in its 8th year, NTEC is a modest private initiative aimed at addressing the challenge of ageing workforce and skilled manpower shortage in the Aviation and Travel & Tourism Sectors. The annual contest is in two categories and is open to Secondary School Students as well as Undergraduates of Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.

The Grand Finale of the 2017 edition is scheduled to hold on May 27, 2017 and the topics for this year's contest are: "Curbing Cyber Crime And Identity Theft In Air Travel Transactions" (For Secondary Schools); and "Promoting Customer Service Excellence In The Travel & Tourism Sectors" (For Tertiary Institutions).