Our story · Arusha, est. 2024

Aninstitutionbuiltbypeoplewholovethisindustrytoomuchtoleaveitasitis.

It started in 2023, when a group of tourism-passionate students began meeting in Arusha as “Utalii wa Ndani Society”. In 2024 that group was re-innovated into Utalii Hub Tanzania, and in 2025 the hub formally launched as Tanzania's first leading tourism hub.

2023First gathering, in Arusha
151+Students at our first career event
04Strategic partners across Africa
Landscape of Tanzania
A working session at the hub
A tourism leader in the hub's Arusha space
In the room
Arusha · 2025
Vision

A leading tourism hub where potential meets partnership to drive transformative and sustainable tourism solutions.

Mission

To empower tourism professionals, youth, and institutions through collaboration, capacity building, innovation, and strategic partnerships that advance sustainable tourism.

Core values

Six commitments we return to.

The words in our mission statement, unpacked into the way we actually work.

01

Collaboration

Nothing we do well, we do alone.

02

Capacity building

Skills first. Everything else follows from them.

03

Innovation

New answers for an industry that keeps changing.

04

Partnership

Strategic, long-term, and useful to both sides.

05

Sustainability

Tourism that the next generation still inherits.

06

Youth

The people the sector is being built for, in the room.

Early milestones

In the field, from the very first year.

October 2023
Anza Hub · Arusha

Utalii na Mimi Career Event

More than 151 students took part in our first career event, built to show young Tanzanians what a life in tourism can actually look like.

Tanzania Tourist BoardPolice TourismTAWACareer Na Mimi Platform
26 December 2023
Makuyuni Wildlife Park

Boxing Day Domestic Tour

A domestic tour conducted under TAWA, taking the career-event cohort straight from the conversation into the field.

TAWA (Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority)
Leadership

People who show up.

The people building Utalii Hub Tanzania, one partnership at a time.

M. M. Ilidephonce

M. M. Ilidephonce

Founding Director

Tourism by Purpose

Read bio+

Magile's story began as a student asking a simple but stubborn question: why does tourism, one of Tanzania's greatest industries, so rarely feel like a real career path for its own young people? That question refused to leave him. It followed him through his BSc in Tourism and Hospitality Management at St. Augustine University of Tanzania, into founding Utalii Hub Tanzania, a hub built to turn that question into an answer. Today, Magile works to open doors for the next generation of tourism professionals across East Africa, one student, one partnership, one hub at a time. His is a story still unfolding, written with purpose, one chapter after another.

D.K. Magumba

D.K. Magumba

President, Utalii Hub Tanzania

Tourism by Foot

Read bio+

Long before David carried a camera through the bush, he was captivated by the wild, not from a vehicle window, but on foot, close to the ground, patient and watchful. That instinct led him to study Wildlife Management at Mweka, where his love for animals sharpened into purpose. Now an aspiring ranger and wildlife photographer, David sees tourism through a different lens than most: one frame, one footstep, one encounter at a time. His story is still being written in the field, where conservation and storytelling meet.

S. A. Buretta

S. A. Buretta

Administration Manager · Finance Advisor

Tourism by Heart

Read bio+

Stella's journey into tourism wasn't sparked by landscapes or wildlife, it was sparked by people. While studying for her Bachelor of Commerce in Tourism Management at the University of Dar es Salaam, she found herself drawn again and again to the human side of the industry: the guides, the trainees, the teams behind every unforgettable trip. Today, as a Human Resources specialist, Stella is building the systems and talent pipelines that will power East Africa's next generation of sustainable tourism ventures. For her, tourism isn't just an industry, it's a community of people she's committed to growing.

Timeline

A short history of a long ambition.

2023

The spark

A group of tourism-passionate students convene in Arusha as “Utalii wa Ndani Society”.

2024

Utalii Hub Tanzania founded

Re-innovation from Utalii wa Ndani Society into Utalii Hub Tanzania (UHT).

2025

Launch of UHT

Formal launch of Tanzania's first leading tourism hub.

2026

Intercontinental partnerships

An African tourism network takes shape across borders.

2027

Pan-African expansion

The hub grows into a continent-wide platform for tourism.

What comes next

2027: a pan-African platform.

Intercontinental partnerships in 2026, pan-African expansion in 2027. The plan is not to grow quickly, but to grow with partners who are still with us in ten years.

Zanzibar coastline