Just a while ago I ordered a glass of Negroni Sbagliato. Upon its arrival came this savory selection of appetizers, posing a real problem for me. It’s seven o’clock in the evening and a four-course dinner awaits me later tonight. I have no intentions of spoiling my appetite. On the other hand, turning down food in Kigali Marriott with the glorious recommendation my friends gave me could make me regret this in a near future.
Placing my cocktail back on the table, I admire the plates again. They are silently staring back at me, tempting my taste buds, with their enticing aromas floating around me. Hints of rosemary sneak up and touch my nose, then dance away; beckoning me to come a little closer.
I want to send back the food. But then again I would love just a bite.
Next to the calamari and Arancini, little snacks bait me with their brilliant red and yellow looks. Leaning down I smell the bouquet of earthy, fresh tomatoes and garlic.
Aperitivo is derived from the Latin word, aperire, meaning opening. The pre-dinner drink and spread of food are meant to awaken the taste buds and stir up the stomach juices.
Occurring after work between the hours of 6 pm and 8 pm, the aperitivo beckons one to indulge their senses in preparation for dinner ahead.
While some places keep it simple, only offering bowls of olives, nuts and chips; Kigali Marriott offers dishes that could contest with those of a four-course dinner. Freshly fried Arancini, delicious calamari, platters of meats and cheeses, and marinated vegetables. Still, competing with dinner itself, the hotel offers an elaborate buffet, testing one’s willpower not to overindulge.
One thing is for sure: An alluring scene awaits you in Kigali Marriott! Be sure to try Cucina Restaurant’s fresh and flavorsome favorites that bring the heart of Italy to Kigali.
The sessions take place at the Cucina Restaurant, where the five-star hotel serves both original Italian dishes and signature à la carte options.
“Italy is known for its food, arts, and wine, and at Kigali Marriott, we’ve brought all these fantastic things together in Picasso nights. The idea is to have a place where guests can walk around easels, and paint while waiting for their food to be served. We just hope to bring the best of Italy to Kigali!” says Alyson Hayes, Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at Kigali Marriott Hotel.
With a growing number of hotels, bars and restaurants serving up “learning experiences” along with their happy hour fare, Kigali Marriott Hotel decided to indulge guests through the ‘Picasso Nights’.
“I invite everyone to participate because there is no judging, it is just enjoying the evening and delighting your senses. As you are using your creative sense, your touch, your feel with having your tastes spoiled by our chefs, I promise you there is no better way to treat yourself,” invites Hayes.
While sipping wine and other beverages, participants are walked through the process of producing a work of art by an Instructor.
“This isn’t your typical paint class, this is a paint party; A night out doesn’t have to mean standing around in a crowded bar; you can have your fun painting while sipping on a drink, eating or just having some time out with your friends, ” says Artist Rigobert Uwiduhaye, an artist/instructor who guided guests at the Picasso night.
Uwiduhaye observed that the sessions are incredibly stimulating — and more importantly, fun. Never before had he tapped into his penchant for art in this way.
“I get to help guests at Kigali Marriott have an affordable night out, and I’m so happy I can help people enjoy their leisure time out with their friends,” added Uwiduhaye.
Those who attended the event did their own painting, following the example of the instructor.
Kigali Marriott Hotel also offers a delectable weekend brunch and a range of Theme Nights which feature Indian, Asian, and African foods at the Soko Restaurant.
From Mojito Madness to Ladies Night to Variety nights, guests can also find a fun-filled and lively atmosphere at the hotel’s Iriba Bar and Terrace, with most evenings offering spectacular drinks specials.
The Kigali Marriott Hotel’s Iriba Bar and Terrace has provided a fitting spot for such an experience. Launched this Friday, the two-day ‘Coffee Xperience’ welcomed coffee lovers in a cozy and lively atmosphere, encouraging people to appreciate the intricacies of a great-tasting cup that not only appeals to the senses but more importantly, soothes stressed souls craving for some laid-back moments.
The event presented a series of delightful activities such as Coffee tasting, coffee art lessons, all guided by various expert baristas together with the main coffee supplier of Kigali Marriott hotel, Question Coffee. The Coffee Xperience also involved coffee-flavored desserts and cakes conceived by the hotel’s artistic chefs.
“The Coffee Xperience was inspired after seeing how the public warmly welcomed the International Coffee Day celebration we held last September,” says Alyson Hayes, Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at Kigali Marriott Hotel.
Hayes also observed that the event was a way of extending the fun of most coffee lovers who were attending the African Fine Coffees and Exhibition that was taking place in Rwanda from February 13-15, 2019.
“The Rwandan Coffee is a brew that is continuously evolving in the country and its high-quality is what attracts and delights both foreigners and Rwandans. This event is the hotel’s way of bringing together coffee lovers with our partners, Question Coffee and 1000 Hills Distillery for an unforgettable experience. Everyone is welcome to come to the hotel and enjoy all we have to offer.” Hayes added enthusiastically.
With the state-of-art service model, guests enjoyed even more as they mingled in a relaxing environment.
The ‘Coffee Xperience’ took place on 15th and 16th February, and was a relish to many.
Kigali Marriott Hotel is located in the City Centre not far from Kigali City Council offices. The five-star hotel is a part of Marriott International which is present across 127 countries and territories with more than 6,700 properties globally.
To support and drive the rapid growth of its African portfolio, Radisson Hotel Group has reinforced its development team with the introduction of senior development professional Ramsay Rankoussi, Vice President, Development, Middle East, Turkey & French Speaking Africa. Ramsay has been with Radisson Hotel Group for over 5 years, initially overseeing the growth of the company in the Middle East & Turkey and now leading the development activities across French Speaking Africa. He is supported by Erwan Garnier, Director, Development French & Portuguese Speaking Africa. Together, they seek to accelerate the introduction of all Radisson brands in the region with a focus on key capital and economic cities.
Also joining the Group’s African development team is Caryn Venter, Coordinator, Development, Sub-Sahara Africa. The new organizational structure follows the recent appointment of Frederic Feijs who leads operations as Regional Director Africa – French Speaking Countries for Radisson Hotel Group and William McIntyre, the Group’s Regional Director, Africa, overseeing the remaining Anglophone markets in Sub-Sahara Africa. Both will play a significant role in strengthening the group’s network in their regions and will increase operational synergies, for the greater benefit of owners.
Ramsay Rankoussi, Vice President, Development, Middle East, Turkey & French Speaking Africa said, “I am thrilled to be expanding my geographical focus, to include French-speaking Africa. We have ambitious plans for this important market and it is imperative that we have the right resources in place to support our growth. This means communicating effectively with owners and investors, as well as providing first class levels of expertise as we establish long-term relationships with our business partners in this market. We are proud that each of our development team members fits this criterion for success.”
“We will continue to execute our five-year strategy with our expanded team, creating scaled hotel growth in key cities and resort locations across Africa during 2019,” said Andrew Mclachlan, Senior Vice President, Development, sub-Saharan Africa, Radisson Hotel Group. “With a focus on scaled growth in key locations across Africa, we can offer guests multiple hotels across different brands and market segments, at various price points and improved local hotel performance with strong local procurement and cluster select services in the same city.”
Mclachlan continued, “Cape Town, Johannesburg and Lagos are our three gateway cities in sub-Saharan Africa where we aim to have scaled growth and an ambition of up to ten hotels within the same city. Dakar, Abidjan, Douala, Luanda, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Addis Ababa are proactive cities, where we aim to have between three and five hotels due to size of economy, market, long-term fundamentals and supply and demand opportunities. We expect our future growth to arise from existing hotel take-overs and new build hotels.”
“With economic headwinds in some African markets, we have identified opportunities to exploit our vast knowledge and experience in converting unbranded, underperforming hotels or underperforming office or apartment buildings and reposition them to the right brand and market segment within the Radisson Hotel Group brand portfolio. In addition, we are not ignoring the smaller cities and larger towns across Africa where we’ve identified potential to penetrate the market with either our midscale Park Inn by Radisson brand or upscale Radisson.”
Radisson Hotel Group plans to open a further five hotels across Africa in 2019, pushing the African portfolio to more than 50 hotels in operation before year-end. These openings include the first Radisson Blu hotel in Casablanca, which is the Group’s second hotel in Morocco, scheduled to open within the next six months, as well as their first hotel, and the countries first internationally branded hotel in Niger, with the opening of Radisson Blu Hotel Niamey in Q2 this year.
“Our strategy will most certainly reinforce our presence in key markets across Africa as we continue to focus on delivering on our expanding pipeline,” concluded Mclachlan.
The call was made by Senator Tito Rutaremara as he visited the 20 beauty pageants contesting for Miss Rwanda 2019 crown at Golden Tulip Hotel, Nyamata, Bugesera District where they are holding a two-week boot-camp that started on January 13th, slated to end on 26th January 2019.
The call was made by Senator Tito Rutaremara as he visited the 20 beauty pageants contesting for Miss Rwanda 2019 crown at Golden Tulip Hotel, Nyamata, Bugesera District where they are holding a two-week bootcamp that started on January 13th, slated to end on 26th January 2019.
On Tuesday, the girls running to be crowned as the most beautiful and intelligent girl in Rwanda were taken through discussions by Senator Tito Rutaremara and other officials including the Chairman of the National Itorero Commission, Edouard Bamporiki and Dr. Jacques Nzabonimba, the in Charge of Culture at the Rwanda Academy for Languages and Culture.
Senator Rutaremara urged the pageants to treasure unity, patriotism, commitment, responsibility, hard work and humility, among other values, emphasizing on integrity as the most important value of the Rwandan culture as it helps people live together with others in peace and harmony.
“Integrity is the one Rwandan cultural value in which others are wrapped. Integrity is not the body beauty seen by eyes. It is in the inside of somebody. With integrity, you listen to others, avoid arrogance and keep your fidelity. If all we Rwandans had that value, our country would turn into a paradise,” Senator Rutaremara said.
The first day of the boot camp saw the beauty pageants trained in Rwandan traditional dance and pageants walking mode which they will showcase at the final day of the pageantry that will see the declaration of the new Miss Rwanda replacing Liliane Iradukunda who has held the crown since January 24th last year.
The event will be held at Intare Conference Arena in Rusororo, Gasabo District.
International Coffee Day is globally celebrated on the 01st October, and is an occasion used to promote and celebrate coffee as a beverage. This day is also used to honour the farmers who grow and harvest the coffee and to raise awareness for the plight of the coffee growers.
The hotel will celebrate with a series of activities intended to boost Rwanda’s coffee industry as part of the celebration of the International Coffee Day, followed by various coffee art lessons guided by expert baristas, coffee sand art for Kids, coffee tasting stations, coffee flavoured desserts and cakes by the artistic chefs.
Guests will be also called to participate in activities made for coffee for both adults and kids. There will also be a series of presentations from the coffee farmers for the participants to help better understand the process From Seed to Cup.
The Coffee culture at Iriba bar and terrace offers a platform for distinctive experiences for guests, and it is an extensive part of the lobby bar concept. As a tribute to the original date, Iriba bar and terrace will be celebrating international coffee day on the 30th September together with the main coffee supplier of the hotel, Question Coffee.
The activity that was initiated by Gadi Habumugisha, a staff of Kigali Marriott, attracted volunteers from the hotel and the surrounding village. The photo capture event is part of The Global Photo Project that was founded by Daniel Kerzner and was supported by the hotel as part of the Serve 360, a platform created by Marriott International to give back to the community where the hotel chain operates.
The beneficiaries of the photo project were surprised to have professional photos of themselves taken. Due to their social status, photos are considered a luxury and are never a priority.
Mukantarindwa, a resident of Gitovu Cell, Kanazi Cell of Nyamata Sector, said she had no photo of herself or even of her family members.
“I am very happy to have been visited by these people. I had no pictures of myself or of my small children, and today, we took pictures and I did not pay a single cent. I am very happy”, she said.
Niyodusenga, a 64 old man says, “I would not get money to pay for the photos but I will keep this picture taken of me so that my grandchildren would be coming and find their grandfather’s picture. I am very grateful for these young men and women [Kigali Marriott Hotel staff members] who thought about me.”
The Human Resource, Senior Manager at Kigali Marriott Hotel, Mary Asiimwe told IGIHE that Kigali Marriott Hotel usually does activities like “Photo Project” which aim at helping the less privileged and creating an impact in the society.
“There are people who have no single picture of themselves and this is unfortunate especially if you cannot have a memory of the small progress that you make in your life. Everyone deserves to look back and remember how the past defined their present and that’s why we are here, to give them the memories for their future generations,” she said.
Kigali Marriott, a 5 star hotel that was officially opened in 2016 has given priority to corporate social responsibility activities in a bid to contribute to the development of the Rwandan society. Among the activities, Kigali Marriott Hotel gets involved in are, the monthly Umuganda, paying community insurance [Mituelle de Sante] fees for the poor and visiting the sick in hospitals.
Cogebanque has gone an extra mile to please esteemed clients as well as Tour du Rwanda enthusiasts, by organizing festivities at every completed stage of the competition.
On Thursday, after players set off from Karongi District of Western Province to Rubavu District, the dynamic Duo of TMC and Platini under the auspices of Cogebanque entertained crowds with popular songs such as Mumutashye, Ruracyariho, Bucece and other masterpieces.
Izabayo Claire, a reveler at the event told IGIHE; “I was happy to see the riders, as cycling is a sport that I enjoy, but most especially I was able to see my favorite singers! They are not infrequent here in Rubavu, but still I wouldn’t miss their performance for anything.”
Speaking to IGIHE, the Business Development and Commercial Director at Cogebanque, Louis de Montfort Mujyambere, revealed that they came up with the idea of bringing Dream Boys to Rubavu as it was one of the places that host Rwandans that are on the look-out for fun.
“Rubavu is a popular entertainment Hub; we wished to celebrate with them in the spirit of the Tour du Rwanda. We brought Dream Boys and several Tombolas that include bicycles as prizes, etc…All this is done with the aim to show that Cogebanque as a bank, cares.”
Frederic returns at Radisson Hotel Group, where he started his career in the hospitality industry in 1998, at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel Brussels. Since then, Frederic has held leadership positions across multiple countries and continents until his most recent position as Regional General Manager in French Polynesia.
In his new role, Frederic assumes responsibility for the group’s presence in Francophone Africa and Egypt and will play a key role in the evolution of the brand in these markets. Frederic will be based at the Radisson Hotel Group’s Area Support Office in Dubai.
Frederic is a Belgian national with extensive experience in Francophone Africa having worked in Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Mali and Egypt in recent years with Radisson Hotel Group. “I am very excited to re-join Radisson Hotel Group and honored to lead the team in Francophone Africa and Egypt. Our mission is to enrich the lives of our guests, team members and the community in this unique area and make every moment matter” says Frederic.
Tim Cordon, Area Senior Vice President, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Radisson Hotel Group, said: “I am thrilled to announce Frederic’s appointment as he assumes responsibility for some of our key territories in Africa, one of Radisson Hotel Group’s core growth markets. Frederic’s past experience in this territory will play a significant role in strengthening our network in the region and increase operational synergies, for the greater benefits of owners, employees and ultimately our guests.”
The party to taste the best German wines was held in Kigali on Tuesday with German Ambassador to Rwanda Dr. Peter Woeste and Rhénanie Palatina’s Minister of Finance Dr Volker Wissing in attendance among other dignitaries.
Weingut Ulrich Langguth led to taste 13 red and white wine types among which the best are to be selected for the Rwandan market.
ABG President Vinay Gorajia told IGIHE that no one else in the country is selling the German wines save ABG which is starting to sell them soon.
“We usually do not have German wines here but we have been selling wines from Germany’s neighbours,” he said.
Mr. Gorajia added that of all the 13 tasted wines, the best according to Rwandans will be put on sale in the country.
ABG leads the Rwandan wine market with a range of wines from France, South Africa, California, Argentina, Chile, and more countries.
Weingut Ulrich Langguth’s Chief Executive Ulrich Langguth said it is sad that Rwanda in its beauty has not had the finest German wines. He said they have special wines mostly made out of renowned Riesling grape.
“Rwanda is a beautiful country but it has no German wine on its market. I am here to showcase red and white wines from Germany. We mainly make wines from Riesling, the best grape in the world for yielding good white wine,” he said.
Langguth assured Rwandans that their wines will not be expensive on the Rwandan market because the bottle will be sold between $7 and 25 (from Rwf76,000 to 22,000) depending on the types.
Akagera Business Group, that is set to sell German wines, is a Rwandan giant company with diverse operations including sale of vehicles and spare parts, ICT products, paints, security equipments and more products.
