Manager of Training

Nawiri Group is foremost known as a leading safari travel group, offering great personalised nature-based travel experiences across the African continent. Our core purpose goes beyond delivering exceptional safaris. We are a platform that connects local communities, expert partners, investors, and travellers to drive positive impact at scale within some of Africa’s most iconic wilderness areas.

Since inception, we’ve supported national parks, community-led conservancies, local communities and governments with many initiatives and millions of dollars in their efforts to safeguard and manage some of Africa’s most important wilderness areas. We believe travel should be a force for good and our vision is to use responsible travel to create a sustainable and prosperous future for natural ecosystems in Africa and the local people living in and around these unique, globally important areas.

Today, through the Group’s various subsidiaries across multiple countries, which includes Asilia Africa, a leading safari operator with 17 bespoke camps and lodges across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, with a full-service DMC offering, and the multi-award-winning African safari tour operator Go2Africa, we employ close to 1,200 people in sub-Saharan Africa all dedicated to delivering immersive experiences while working towards our goal of delivering impact at scale.

Purpose Driven

• Our shared purpose is encapsulated in our group name - ‘Nawiri’ is Kiswahili for ‘to flourish/thrive’, reflecting our vision of creating a future where vital ecosystems and local communities thrive together.

• We are proud as a group to be B Corp certified, a testament to our dedication to balancing the needs of people, planet, and profit in everything we do. Our journey with B Corp started more than a decade ago when Asilia qualified in 2012, the first African Travel company to do so.

• Last financial year we contributed US$9.8m to nature protection and positive impact projects. We continue to grow our impact reach and agenda.

• We have ambitious commercial growth plans and are expanding our operational, commercial, analytical and technology capabilities to enable the further scaling of both our guest experiences and travel offerings. 

Why should you work for us?

• Join a team that has continuously led the way in our industry, ranging from creating cutting-edge technology platforms to deploying innovative solutions to lead the way in sustainable operations.

• We take pride in creating a culture where people grow, find purpose, and contribute to progress that reaches far beyond the organisation. Training and development are at the heart of this journey, and we are proud of the number of in-house programmes that we have available, including a training library offering over 130 different training modules.

• Enjoy the flexibility of a hybrid working arrangement to get the most out of your working hours. Combine work in one of the Nawiri Group offices, located in the picturesque cities of Cape Town, Nairobi, Arusha, and London, with the option of remote work.

ROLE SUMMARY

The Manager of Training is responsible for designing and delivering comprehensive training interventions to the Sales and Operations teams predominately at Go2Africa. Training interventions will include Go2Africa’s systems, separate team processes, as well as service offering content (such as destination training). The Manager of Training will train new starters as well as existing staff and provide maintenance and remedial training to existing employees. The Manager of Training will be responsible for continuously assessing training needs and adjusting training delivery methods and content accordingly. This position will also be responsible for the formalisation of all training materials – designing new materials from scratch, and reworking and maintaining existing materials.

This position will report to the Nawiri Head of Training. In addition, there will be close collaboration with Sales Directors, Operations Managers, and HR.

It is noted that this position will require training for companies within the Nawiri Group on a variety of topics, including soft and technical skills, as well as destination training.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Identify ongoing training needs

• Conduct regular training needs and skills gap analyses to assess training requirements within the Sales and Operations teams this will be done in conjunction with the Head of Training and the HR Team, according to the training policy

Design and execute training interventions

• Design training interventions for Sales and Operations positions, according to the ‘content areas’ below

• Review and re-work existing training interventions, where necessary

• Coordinate and facilitate Sales and Operations training sessions for new starters and existing employees

• Continuously monitor and review the effectiveness of training content and delivery methods to ensure excellent service delivery and transfer of knowledge to trainees

Maintenance training

• Ensure that training interventions, inclusive of training materials, are continuously adapted to include new system features or pertinent updates

• Monitor training status of the Sales and Operations teams, ensuring that employees are up to date with required knowledge standards in the business

• Work with Line Managers to identify employees in need of remedial training. Take accountability for designing and executing remedial training plans, customized to individual employee needs

Training Materials and Documentation

• Develop and continuously maintain comprehensive training materials in a range of formats that are easily adjustable to employee learning styles

• Over time, work towards the digitization of all training materials, including videos

Training Content Areas:

Systems training – new starters

• Facilitate training for our standard internal systems, including but not limited to:

• Bazaruto, including End-to-End with Asilia

• HubSpot

• Flywire or any other pay gate system

• 3CX phone system

• Office 365, Teams, and Outlook file management

• Charter flight booking system (AeroCRS)

• Ilios online system

Process training – new starters

With time, it is envisaged that the Manager of Training Manager will take over the total process training for all Operations roles. The high-level processes are listed below and may be subject to change and development

Support team processes:

• Provisional, Confirmation, Audit processes

• Travel Preparation Pack and sending invoices to Accounts

• Rate query investigations and rate sheets

• Reconfirmation processes

• Client Travel Documentation

• Supplier services tab in Bazaruto

• Arrival Instructions and Itinerary blurbs

• Car rental vouchers

Client Experience processes

• Customer Process Map & CRM mailer training

• Emergency phone (after-hours support) training

• Visa, vaccination, and general on-trip preparation training 

Enquiry and Quote processes

• Pre-qualification training

• Bazaruto: Itinerary building, cancellations, deferrals & audit changes

• Process flow from consulting to confirming or closing an enquiry

African Safari Expert processes

• Process flow from consulting to confirming or closing an enquiry

• Bazaruto: Itinerary building

Destination training

• Design and deliver regular destination training, in collaboration with the Product team. Operations Managers and Nawiri Head of Training

• Regularly update destination training materials, ensuring the information is accurate and staff members are trained accordingly

• Utilise The Learning Centre materials and videos, encouraging and monitoring employee participation

• Review current destination assessments, updating or redesigning where necessary to ensure relevancy

• Mark all destination assessments, ensuring fair and comprehensive feedback is provided to employees

Nawiri Group Training

• Part of this role will require the manager of Training to train other companies in the Group when the requirement arises, and will also be required to work in conjunction with the Nawiri Head of Training to establish group training requirements

• This training involves product & destination training, soft skills training, as well as systems and process training

EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 4-years’ experience in a Travel Consultant role at a B2C travel business, working with inbound international travellers (essential)

• Minimum of 2-years’ experience in a Training Manager / Facilitator role at a comparable travel business (advantageous)

KNOWLEDGE

• Expert-level knowledge of Southern Africa and East Africa destinations (essential)

• Expert-level product knowledge of luxury 5* safari accommodations, transport options and tours (essential)

• Expert-level working knowledge of CRM systems, preferably HubSpot (essential)

• Working knowledge of training methodologies and facilitation (desirable)

• Working knowledge of designing training interventions, inclusive of training materials (desirable)

SKILLS AND COMPERENCIES

• Ability to transfer knowledge to others

• Ability to work with people

• Excellent written and verbal communication

• Excellent ability to present engaging and professional training sessions

• Ability to plan and organize

• Ability to deliver excellent service to internal trainees

• Ability to adapt and respond to changing training requirements

• Ability to comfortably and confidently train the wider Nawiri group.

• Team player who is passionate about learning and development.

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY

At Nawiri Group, we are committed to fostering diversity and inclusion. We encourage Employment Equity candidates and individuals with disabilities to apply. As an equal opportunities employer, we believe that a diverse workforce is key to our success. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, regardless of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion, or beliefs.