A Zimbabwean businessman has startled the international hospitality industry by achieving the seemingly impossible in a country where the local currency has little value and the economy is on the verge of collapse.

Shingi Munyeza (42) is the chief executive officer of an established hospitality company, which he has turned into an major success just five years after leading a consortium of "indigenous" business people in acquiring a 35% share in the Zimbabwe Sun group.

He assumed leadership of the company, but although he recognised the enormous tourism potential of his country and was determined to push up international arrivals and profits, the Zimbabwe economy was in trouble.

The solution lay beyond the borders of the country. With insight, he saw the advantage of widening ZimSun's horizons by encompassing Africa in the revitalisation of the hospitality industry continent-wide.

On Monday, he will tell the SA Tourism's showpiece event, Indaba, in Durban that efforts to reposition the Zimbabwe Sun have been so successful, that the company is to be rebranded African Sun Limited.

The company is now involved in revitalising hotels in Cameroon, the DRC, Mozambique and Angola. It has expanded its operations in South Africa and Botswana, into Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, Mozambique and Nigeria where properties have been signed up and will be opened between 2009 and 2010.

In the next few years, it plans to increase capacity by 4 000 hotel beds in west, east and southern Africa.

Munyeza dreams of bringing the African hospitality industry to the same level of development as the rest of the world.

"Africa has all the resources, including mineral wealth and oil, but the continent is hampered by a shortage of skills," he said.

"The hospitality industry has a pivotal role to play in opening up the continent.

"People who have a good experience when they holiday here, return to do business and, when that succeeds, they invest in the country."

He said top hotels throughout the continent have jumped at the opportunity of becoming part of the African Sun portfolio. Not only are their properties being upgraded to international standards and their staff trained to deliver excellent service but profits are improving.

International arrivals into the company's hotels have increased 17%, with more than a R36 million growth in net profit after tax in the past five years.

The success of Munyeza's gamble has won him widespread admiration, and the funding to carry it through. Investors from Europe, Asia and the United States are helping to fund the programme. More than R188 million has been secured for regional expansion.

What makes Munyeza's approach novel is his positive market focus.

He has initiated a "How may I serve you?" policy and CEO's feedback campaign. African Sun encourages the production of fresh produce in the countries were it operates. This fits in with its environmentally responsible programme where costs are reduced and jobs created by "going local".

Commercial interests demand good hotels to improve communications and business, and their emergence is also spurring job creation.

Shingi Munyeza has always been an achiever. He was just 20 when he was elected junior mayor of Harare and given the Outstanding Young Person Award in Zimbabwe, an accolade he was to receive several times. Not many years later he was nominated Zimbabwe's Tourism Personality of the Year, an award he has received again and again.

Born on September 17, 1966, Munyeza's CV reflects his determination, energy and flair. He attended St Johns High School from 1981 to 1984 before matriculating at Prince Edward High School two years later.

Unlike more fortunate young men, he did not study fulltime at a university, enrolling instead at the University of South Africa through which he obtained a bachelor degree in accounting sciences.