Yasir Mohamed Baffo a prominent young personality in the field of tourism in Somalia, recently today he was in Rwanda for a special visit that his marked his 10th visits. Back home he is well respected as national tourism promoter and known “the father of Somali tourism” among his society.
After he graduated from Malaysian public university named University Utara Malaysia in 2010, his dream destination was to visit Rwanda and he made in 2014 to simply see after hearing much from the media. A curious visit that changed his life for good and ever since he has made Rwanda his second home.
As a patriotic young leader Yasir has successfully rallied brave ideas in the tourism sector with his dedication Somali cabinets approved the National Tourism Policy late December 2019.
His daring vision has created demand for human resource personnel among hospitality and tourism entities in Somalia through capacity building services. This services have equipped more than 200 young men and women giving the hospitality industry a firm foundation in his country.
The story of Yasir Mohamed Baffo is one of a kind because today he continues to champion more tourism initiatives in Somalia and beyond including the historical registration of Somalia into the United Nations World Tourism Organization - UNWTO for the first time in 2017. In this same year he was awarded by the Minister of tourism and Mayor of Mogadishu as the national tourism promoter and personality of the year. He believes that this international integration is a major step towards changing the narrative of his motherland to the world as he motivates young Somali entrepreneurs to organize as many as positive events, tours, and tourism exhibitions to show case the beauty of Somalia.
During his visits to many African countries, Yasir managed to tour Rwanda, met and held talks with RDB’s senior officials at different times in a pursuit of knowledge sharing in tourism. Yasir highly commended the strides made by Rwanda in different sectors in spite of the country’s tragic past, a transformation that he longs to see materialize in Somalia.
At an event held on December 30th 2019 at the Kigali Marriott Hotel, Yasir was invited by Jet Age continental Awards organizers, a Pan African organization that aims at acknowledging and celebrating great African achievers. On this occasion Jet Age Continental Award honored him under the “Distinguished youth personality of the year”.
In his remarks said “we have to change the narrative of Africa as a continent of hope and many opportunities but this begins with the attitude that we have towards our own countries and how we treat our fellow African brothers and sisters, we can choose to see hope and act positively in everything we do because the future is now”
The Jet Age Awards organizers chose Rwanda to host the first edition of the pan African outstanding young achievers of 2019 across different sectors.
Story by Richmond Runanira
