Prof. Babalola, Dr. Pinder, Alhaji Sunmonu, Dr. Belinda, Justina Ovat, others Unveiled as Speakers for HMC Owerri 2023

As the Annual Hotel Managers Conference draws nearer, the organizers have unveiled the speakers for the 5th edition of the Hotel Managers event for hotel Managers in Africa. The 2023 Conference would have Guest Speakers who would be doing justice to this year’s conference theme of, ‘“Performance Management: Managers & Owners Dilemma”, holding on the 13th - 14th July, 2023 at Swiss International Beland Hotel, Owerri, Plot P/14 Public Building Layout, Imo Specialist Hospital Umuguma Road, New Owerri, Owerri, Imo State. The 2 days event would feature 8 Guest Speakers and 10 Panelists. The Hotel Managers Awards Night would hold on the 14th by 7.00pm.


Prof. Babalola, Dr. Pinder, Alhaji Sunmonu, Dr. Belinda, Justina Ovat, others Unveiled as Speakers for HMC Owerri 2023


The Hotel Managers Conference was conceived and organized annually to build capacity in Nigeria and across Africa for hotel General Managers, Head of Departments of various hospitality brands in Restaurants, Bars and all the organizations within the hospitality value chain are privileged to meet hospitality experts with global relevance and draw timely knowledge for professional exploits as we keep pushing, bridging the big gap between International Hospitality brands and Indigenous brands both in administration and general operation standards.

Dr. Michael Pinder


 The speakers for the two days conference are Professor Wasiu Babalola, Dr. Michael Pinder, Dr. Belinda Nwosu, and Dr. Omopeju Afanu, Alhaji Gbenga Sunmon, Benedicta Ogar and Dr. Chef Eric Mekwuye. Among the Panelists are Justiina Ovat, Justina Ovat is Principal Consultant, Calabar Hospitality House, CHH Consults, Hospitality Trainer, Service Design Specialist, Vice President South-South, Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) and the President, Women in Hospitality Nigeria (WiHN) among others.  Uloma P. Danjumbo Udeh, Regional General Manager, BON Hotels International West Africa; Allen Effeh, Lead Consultant, Footprint Hospitality; Funke Olusoga-Ogunlade, Hospitality & Customer Experience Consultant.

Speaking about this year’s conference, Mr. Olugbenga Sunday, Chief Convener of the conference explained that this year’s event is going to challenge both owners and mangers on how to manage the assessing and balancing and demystifying the  dilemma surrounding the understanding of performance and best practices on how to manage it for the increases profitability of the organization.

Meet the Speakers

He continues, to achieve this laudable task, the HMC Organizing Team has put together globally rated hospitality and hotel performance experts to do justice to the topic and practically impact delegates at the conference.

Professor Wasiu Babalola

Professor Wasiu Babalola, FIH, ACIA; Prof/ Regional Chairman, Institute of Hospitality UK-Nigeria/ SVP, Africa for Continent Worldwide Hotel, Turkey. Wasiu Babalola is a Professor of Hotel Management & Tourism, Atiba University, Oyo, Nigeria; an Adjunct Professor of Tourism & Hospitality, Faculty of Environmental Designs and Management, Lead City University, lbadan, Nigeria and a Visiting Professor to the Capital City University, Kano, Nigeria. His teaching interests centre on studies in Hospitality, Tourism, Accounting & Management programmes.

Professor Babalola is a Rotarian and Past President of the Rotary Club of Isolo, District 9110 Nigeria.

Dr. Michael Pinder

Dr. Michael Pinder, PhD in Human Resources Management Masters and Doctorate degrees, is a receiver of the Prestigious Icon of Hospitality Award 2022 by the Hotel Managers Awards, is a highly accomplished and performance-driven General Manager of Ogeyi Place Hotel Port Harcourt, the oil-rich  Rivers State. Dr. Pinder possesses a considerable track record in transforming underperforming hotel operations and delivering significant increases in sales and profitability, with worldwide experience. He is married with Children.

Alhaji Sunmonu Dauud  Gbenga

Rotarian Sunmonu Dauud Gbenga, Managing Consultant of Complete Hospitality Services limited, focused on Hospitality, Tourism and Management Consultancy. He is the 1st Vice President and fellow NHCI, Fellow ITPN ,FNIM, and currently the Coordinator FTAN for Lagos State. He is happily married to a wonderful and amiable wife, Khadijat and blessed with three wonders of God. He started his working career at the Sheraton Lagos Hotel and Towers Ikeja where he spent ten years and worked round all the department in the food and beverage department before resigning. 

Alhaji Gbenga Sunmonu


Alhaji Sunmonu is a graduate of Hotel and Catering Management from the Lagos State Polytechnic. He did his NYSC with Yastee Pot Limited, owners of Tastee Fried Chicken). He has Post Graduate Diploma in Public Relations and  Master in public Administration with emphasis on Human Resources Management  from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, and another first Degree in Industrial and Labour Relations from the same University.

Dr. Belinda Nwosu

Lagos Business School, Pan Atlantic University. She is a faculty member of the Organizational Behavior and HRM Department at Lagos Business School. She holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Southampton, UK, with other degrees in hospitality and statistics. Her interests center around human behavior in business contexts with applications in the services sector, especially tourism and hospitality. She has explored gender, HR leadership, sustainable HRM and governance in tourism, employee work ethic etc. Before joining LBS, Belinda worked as a Senior Consultant at W Hospitality Group. Dr. Belinda is a Fellow and Trustee of the Institute of Hospitality (UK), a recipient of the 2022 Paul R. Lawrence Fellowship in case research and a Certified Hotel Industry Analyst with STR Global.

Dr. Belinda Nwosu


Dr. Mekwuye Eric, CHP,MCFBD,FAPCN. Dr. Chef Eric is the CEO, HoReCaBB Mentors (HM Group) / Chief Faculty, Hospitality Business School, Lagos. He is the recipient of the coveted Legacy Award Africa 2022, by the Hospitality awards Africa. Not satisfied with just Catering and Hotel Management from OOU, Nigeria, he went further to bag a degree in Hospitality management from AIU, USA. In 2021, he was conferred with Doctor of Public Administration by the London Bridge Business School. 

Justina Ovat

Based in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, she is the Principal Consultant, Calabar Hospital it u House, CHH Consults. Justina is a passionate Hospitality Trainer, Service Design Specialist. She is  Vice President South-South, Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) and the President, Women in Hospitality Nigeria. Since inception CHH has trained over 5000 personnel in the industry and is continuously addressing the youth unemployment challenge.

DR. OMOPEJU AFANU

Dr. Omopeju Afanu is a serial entrepreneur, well versed in project management, finance and administration with experience in managing different scales of projects, earning her the position of Management Consultant, Managing Director and Vice President/COO of a few organizations. She is the founder of Cooperhouse Hospitality Ltd, engaged by the Lagos State Government as the sole Vocational Training Centre for its Lagos State Employability Support Program (LSESP) providing hospitality industry based training. She consults for various companies in the conceptualization, design, financing and execution of turn-key Hotel and Real Estate Development projects in several States in Nigeria.

Benedicta Ogar


BENEDICTA G. OGAAR

Benedicta Ogar, is an accomplished Hospitality Business Consultant. She is the Lead Consultant and Chief Executive Officer of CityBee Services; a Hospitality Consulting Company based in Lagos, Nigeria. She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Hotel Operations Management from the Swiss Hotel Management School, a Professional Certification in Project Planning and Management from The University of Virginia, USA Credentials in Hospitality Management from the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute, alongside Certificates in Hospitality Human Resources and the Art of Concierge from the International School of Hospitality, Las Vegas, USA.


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