Unlocking Africa How Traverze Travel Became Zimbabwe’s Leading Travel Management Company and Expanded Across Africa with Zodwa Mkandla
Episode 200 with Zodwa Mkandla, Founder and Managing Director of Traverze Travel, one of Zimbabwe’s most successful travel management companies and a leading player in Africa’s tourism and aviation industries. Since 2003, Traverze Travel has redefined corporate and leisure travel in Zimbabwe through exceptional service, innovative travel solutions and strong regional expansion into South Africa and Zambia.
In this episode, Zodwa shares the remarkable journey behind building Traverze Travel into a trusted brand that serves multinational companies, government institutions and leisure travellers across Africa. She explains how strategic airline partnerships, customer experience innovation and rigorous operational standards helped Traverze stand out in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving sector. From establishing The Lounge at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport to steering the business through economic volatility, Zodwa offers powerful insights into what it takes to build a resilient travel and tourism enterprise in Zimbabwe and beyond.
We discuss the economic importance of Africa’s travel sector, the opportunities emerging from increased intra African mobility, and the leadership mindsets required to scale service based businesses across the continent. Zodwa also reflects on empowering women entrepreneurs, adopting technology in travel management and shaping the future of Africa’s aviation and tourism ecosystem.
What We Discuss With Zodwa
- How Zodwa built Traverze Travel into one of Zimbabwe’s leading travel management companies with regional operations in Southern Africa.
- Strategies for navigating economic volatility, currency challenges and market disruption in the African travel and tourism sector.
- Innovating travel services through airport lounges, technology adoption and strategic airline partnerships that enhance the customer journey.
- Strengthening Africa’s travel ecosystem through operational excellence, regional integration and high quality client service.
- Unlocking economic opportunities through intra African travel, cross border connectivity and the empowerment of women in business.
Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss Building a Fintech for Africa’s Street Vendors, Informal Traders and Low Income Workers? Make sure to check it out!
Connect with Terser:
LinkedIn - Terser Adamu
Instagram - unlockingafrica
Twitter (X) - @TerserAdamu
Connect with Zodwa:
LinkedIn - Zodwa Mkandla and traverzetravel
Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group: