Zainab ANSELL

In the communities of Northern Tanzania, there has been insufficient education efforts and institutional development for the Maasai to understand and benefit from educational achievement. Typically, Maasai children enter First Grade at age of seven without prior exposure to  classroom-based teaching, without basic skills, such as  counting and writing, typical among other Tanzanian  children, and without an understanding of Swahili, which is the only legally permitted language, other than English,  in schools. They are set up for failure from the beginning; not surprisingly, many drop-out before the end of Primary School, and almost half do not pass the Grade 7 exams, which are critical to entering Secondary School. Consequently, as compared to other communities throughout Tanzania, the Maasai have far less children succeeding at all levels in school. Read more also Find our special package to support this.

Equality in Tourism invites both sexes to try to get to the heart of why there are so few women at the top of the tourism industry and what needs to happen to bring about gender equality. To help us achieve this, our panel will consist of women who have broken through the glass ceiling as government ministers and directors of tourism and those heading up tour operations and hotel groups. Sun, Sand and Ceilings is the first report published by Equality in Tourism, an independent, non-profit think tank and consultancy that believes questions of gender discrimination have been largely omitted from frontline practice and that greater gender equality is an essential component of a thriving and sustainable tourism industry.   Although the report focuses on the representation of women at the top of the tourism industry, Equality in Tourism is concerned with all women working in or affected by the tourism industry worldwide. We seek to work with the public and private sectors, p

Sheer determination to succeed made Zainab Ansell to be the woman she is today, a successful business woman and she has an award to prove that. Last year she received an a Ward for Business Entrepreneur of the year for running a successful tour operating company, managing 950 employees. Zainab founded Zara Tours in 1987 in Moshi. Her company started offering climbs to Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as safaris to the national parks. Today, Zara is one of the largest Kilimanjaro outfitter and one of the largest safari operators. It also operates two hotels and four tented camps, as well as offering trips to Zanzibar. What makes this tour operator different from the rest is that it has a record 88 registered guides who are conversant in English, German and Spanish languages. Zara entered into the hospitality industry in 2000 when Zainab and her husband, Roger, opened the Springlands Hotel in Moshi, named after the nearby crystal clear springs. Read More

The WTM event on Gender and Sustainable Tourism Development featured a presentation of the recently published Global Report on Women in Tourism , a joint UNWTO/UN Women publication, followed by interventions from representatives of the public and private sectors as well as of civil society. The latter shared their views and experiences on the important role of tourism in promoting women´s empowerment and discussed this link in light of the main themes of the report – Employment, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Education and Community. Participants included the Minister of Tourism of Paraguay, H.E. Ms. Liz Cramer Campos, the Founder and Director of Zara Tanzanian Adventures and Member of the Sustainable and Solidarity Tourism Network of the Spanish Banesto Foundation, Ms. Zainab Ansell, and the Founder and Co-Director of Zalala Beach Lodge, a community-based lodge in Mozambique and Member of the Central America Women´s Network (CAWN), Ms. Angela Hadjipateras. Read and R

I first heard, Tanzanian,  Zainab Ansell speak at the launch of a joint UN Women and UN World Tourism Organisation report that examined the role of gender in sustainable tourism. Zainab was an engaging presence as she took the audience through the growth of her enterprise – ZARA Tanzanian Adventures (a tour operator specialising in trips ranging from safaris to Kilimanjaro expeditions) – and how their forward thinking gender policies both benefitted the community and made sound business sense.  I wanted to find out more about the story of this indomitable woman whose business now employs close to one thousand people. Over a series of emails, I asked her about the beginnings of ZARA. She told me that, when she had been young, her aspirations were “to hopefully get married and have a family” but “in life one thing leads to another”.  “After finishing high school I worked in a leather factory selling ladies bags - not so stimulating - however it was a job and I could contribute suppo

The Global Report on Women in Tourism (GRWT) a joint with United Nations World Tourism Organizations (UNWTO) has in several years ago marking a new era for tackling gender issues in the tourism sector. It provides detailed statistical information on women’s role and status in the tourism industry, offering recommendations on how to improve the current situation. UNWTO and UN women believe that tourism can be a vehicle for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. Yet, much work needs to be done in order for this potential to be realized. One of the Great Female entrepreneurs, Ms. Zainab Ansell who run today, proudly, one of the biggest tourism companies in Tanzania called, ZARA Tours Company (ZARA Tanzania Adventures) was among the three women who attended UNWTO event held in London, United Kingdom (UK) recently.  The event debated among other issues, tourism’s potential for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment while at the same time examining current challe