IMPACT:Capacity building key to professionalism Hotel proprietors have called on the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) to help devise a mechanism for regular capacity building programmes for hotel and restaurant personnel. In an interview with The New Times yesterday, Augustine Mukezambago, the proprietor of Hotel La Palisse, said the country was still faced with a shortage of qualified personnel in hotel management, adding there was need to come up with more concrete strategies to help change the face of hospitality sector in the country. "Poor customer care is one of the serious issues that are still affecting our business…WDA and other partners should organise more training programmes for our staff because this will improve their skills and knowledge in hotel management and increase our profits in general” Mukezangabo said.   He stated the previous training sessions were already bearing fruit but said more needed to be done. Mukezambago observed that eight of his employees were trained by WDA in various hospitality skill areas, including food and beverages, which he said helped them improve on their daily duties. The hotelier said that since the training, the employees in question are now more professional than before. However, he urged WDA to always carry out evaluation of the trainees’ performance to better understand the impact of the capacity building programmes. He said it would also help encourage the trainees to put into practice the skills they acquired. "I thank WDA for training hotel employees and proprietors in various hospitality management skills, but I feel they should organise continous seminars for the previous trainees,” Mukezangabo saidAlex Bayingana, the proprietor of Alpha Palace Hotel said: "Over 80 per cent of hotel proprietors and employees don’t have the requisite skills and knowledge about hotel management, especially customer care. "This means that there is need for the government to organise more training for us because it would boost the hospitality industry in the country”.  According to Bayingana, the majority of hotel proprietors have resorted to employing only staff with experience due to lack of qualified people in the hotel management and hospital sector in the country.  He also urged hospitality schools in the country to shift from theoretical to hands-on courses, which he said would make the industry acquire more professional staff. Speaking to The New Times, Jerome Gasana, the Director General of WDA, said his institution had completed training for over 800 hotel personnel, including proprietors and employees, in Food & Beverage, Culinary Art, Front Office Operation, Housekeeping, and Customer Care. He noted the training programmes were carried out in the City of Kigali, as well as Southern, Northern and Western provinces, adding that they intend to extend similar programmes to the Eastern Province before end of the year. Gasana said that WDA currently has a team of 23 hospitality trainers, adding that 11 of them went to upgrade their skills at Les Roches University, an internationally acclaimed school of hotel management in Switzerland. He added that they will return with new skills which will help promote the country’s tourism and hospitality sectors. The WDA chief said his institution was also exploring possible ways of collaboration with Les Roches University as part of continued efforts to improve hospitality in the country. WDA is currently constructing a school for hotel management and hospitality in Remera Sector, Gasabo District.