Major legal advisers/external counsel: ENS Africa

Country you are primarily based in: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mozambique, Congo and South Africa

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Our most recent and proud moment being when our Tanzanian unit – Tourism Promotion Services (Tanzania) finalised an electrification project with the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority on 24th June 2024, therefore leading to electrification of the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge from the main grid and marking significant savings to our Lodge in energy expenditure (approximately US$100,000/pa). This was coupled with a negotiation and renewal of a 33-year lease between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and Tourism Promotion Services (Tanzania), therefore enabling Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge to continue operating the in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area(Park) for the next 33 years and serving our guests.

In addition, we have this year entered into major technical and management services agreements for the management and operation of two new Serena Units – Nakuru Serena Hotel (in Nakuru, Kenya) and Jacana Lodge (in Bwindi, Uganda). The launch of the two units is yet to be in the public domain.

Lastly, Serena saw the need to revamp its conference facility in Uganda and using a consortium of contractors, we negotiated and executed a consultancy agreement for the construction works over the conference facility, and the Works are currently ongoing.

Concerning partnerships, our team has worked on significant partnership agreements including our partnership with Kenya Airways, which was just recently launched for the provision of benefits to Kenya Airways/Asante members giving them preferential rates and access to benefits in our Serena Units.

On sustainability, Serena is big on sustainability and preserving our environment and to convert all our hotels, lodges and resorts into green facilities, we drafted and executed a Solar Power Project Agreement for our Mombasa-Serena Beach Resort and Spa. The Solar Project was launched and completed this year and the Resort is now fully solar powered.

Regarding dispute resolutions, Serena was embroiled in Labour Appeal No. 1 of 2022 against the Labour Commissioner, where our staff proceeded to put in a claim against the Hotel for outstanding payments which had accrued over the COVID-19 period as the pandemic was not recognized as a Force Majeure Event in Tanzania prior to most recent court decisions. In collaboration with our local counsel, we successfully closed on an out of court settlement with all the staff in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar at 60% of the claim amount raised by the staff.

Which recent political, economic or regulatory changes have impacted your work the most in the past year?

In a general overview, the more recent taxes that have been levied in Kenya, have had a financial implication on all the businesses operating in the jurisdiction creating a financial impact. However, from a regulatory perspective, the data protection laws implementation not just in Kenya but across all our regional countries has been of significance to us as a company, leading us to a space whereby we have adopted best practice and trainings in each county and unit so as to ensure that all our staff members are aware and sensitized on data protection given that we are guest facing and likely to be affected by data privacy indiscretions.

With the help of our external counsel, ENS Africa, we also drafted policies on data protection that have been implemented and customised to all our countries. As a company and in conjunction with our risk department we have proactively implemented the data protection laws requirements.

Are there any causes, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

At an individual level I am passionate about two areas being; eradication of female Genital mutilation (FGM), which is a major issue in the community where I am from (the Pokot Community) and sustainability, which is also a big part of Serena and its operations.