What started as a self actualisation project has landed Zambian Mulemwa Moongwa ,on the global meetings industry radar, listing her among the twenty finalists on this year’s Meetings Industry Trendsetters list published by US based Meetings Today Magazine. The annual list of recognizes twenty (20) individuals whose unique contributions to the Meetings and Events Industry make them stand out. In its over three (3) decades of existence, this is the first time the publication has cast a spotlight on an African based industry professional.
Mulemwa’s journey in events started when she worked part-time for a party planning business in Lincoln, Nebraska where she was studying the Law. The Law lost an advocate but the Business Events Industry gained a dedicated pioneer. When she moved back to Zambia, she established an events business industry at age 23, setting her on an entrepreneurial journey that has seen her transition from party planning to a decorated career in business events serving major business to government events and government to government engagements. Mulemwa worked as an independent  in-house planner for ten years on retainer for the Financial Literacy Project under the German Sparkassenstiftung  project in partnership with the Central bank. Even with such high level exposure, the feeling of inadequacy lingered and she has always been in search of qualifications to give her credibility as a professional. The absence of defined career paths in the events industry, coupled with the non existence of barriers of entry in the practice of events ,birthed a personal journey of validation that has led in to over 15 countries in the last six years.
In 2013, Zambia co-hosted the United Nations Tourism General Assembly in Livingstone, Mulemwa was part of the consortium of Professional Conference Organisers (PCOs) that submitted an unsuccessful bid as service providers for the General Assembly . It was then that she heard that the local consortium failed to secure the bid due the absence of a Certified Meetings Professional , a prerequisite of the host organisation. The realization that there existed a professional pathway in the events industry that was recognized at UN Tourism, renewed her desire to gain professional credence in her desired vocation. She began the journey withexploring the Certified Meetings Professional (CMP) and a decade ago the cost of study was prohibitive for a self sponsored learner. At the time , the print material was shipped from the United States of America and the closest examination centre was in South Africa. Today, study material is a click away and an exam can be taken in the comfort of your home with the right equipment.
Fast forward to 2019, Mulemwa travelled to Indiana University to attend a residential programme for the Certificate in Meetings Management delivered by the Meetings Professional International (MPI). It wasn’t until the pandemic that she fully appreciated the membershipbenefits of belonging to an industry body. During the lockdown, members of MPI were constantly engaging online with numerous learning opportunities that included management of virtual engagements that gave her instant competitive advantage in revenue generation.
It was during lockdown that she decided to engage the MPI on increasing its involvement in the Africa region. In September 2020, in partnership with Kenyan Kezy Mukiri, they hosted a virtual stakeholder engagement to advocate for the African Meetings Industry. Until 2020, Kezy had hosted the Global MICE Summit in her home town of Nairobi and in recognition of the need for a continent specific platform, the two women collaborated in what has become the Africa MICE Summit. The Africa MICE Summit is built on three core pillars, Sustainability, Technology and People. Over the past five years, they  have split their efforts with Kezy focusing on the first two pillars whilst Mulemwa drove the people agenda.
It is the work in advocating for people development that undoubtedly got her on the radar of the global Meetings industry. She has traversed the globe speaking at major industry events emphasizing the growth of the African business events industry can only be sustainable be achieved if the human factor is prioritized. She is a champion member for the Africa region at MPI as well as a franchisee of the IMEX-MPI Future Leaders Forum. For the past three (3) years during Meetings Africa, she dedicates a full day for the Future Leaders Forum where she shares the learning paths and related career opportunities in Meetings. In September 2025, Mulemwa and Kezy hosted the first in person Africa MICE Summit after five years of online engagements, the event included an edition of the IMEX-MPI Future Leaders Forum at the renowned hospitality school Kenya Utali College.
In 2022, Mulemwa was appointed as Board Chairperson for the Zambia Institute for Tourism & Hospitality Studies (ZITHS), the public institution in her home country dedicated to human development for tourism and its sub sectors. In her signature approach, she went straight to the top. She led her team to the UN Tourism Secretariat in Madrid to appreciate their strategy for human development that Zambia as a member country could benefit from in designing its own strategy. Zambia introduced the Travel, Hospitality and Tourism Education Summit as a platform for constructive dialogue among educators, employers and policy makers to address the evident skilled and knowledge gaps in the country and the wider region. In 2024, in line with the UN Tourism Education Guidelines, the Zambia Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism integrated Travel and Tourism into the formal school system from Grade One all the way to Form Six. The integration project brought together over 300 educators and 50 industry players over a period of eighteen months. The project was done without a dedicated budget line and the willingness of the two ministries to prioritize the project speaks to the positioning of the tourism development at government level. During her time as Chairperson, she led numerous projects that brought together multiple stakeholders from across the globe and her highlights include two apprenticeship programme with Diageo Products PLC and the American Embassy as well as the citing of the first UN Tourism Academy for Tourism and Hospitality by the UN Tourism Secretary H.E Zurab Pololashikavili. Mulemwa credits the all hands on deck approach of her full Board and the leadership of the Zambian government for the successes recorded during her tenure as Chairperson.
As her three year tenure at the helm of tourism education in Zambia, ZITHS became the first school on the African continent to become an accredited International Conventions and Congresses Association University partner. It remains to be seen what she does next , but as Voyagers Afriq, we believe she has only just begun. Congratulations on behalf on Africa and thank you for your service Mulemwa!
This article was first published in the November Edition (Issue 36) of VoyagesAfriq Travel Magazine
