Noorani Azeez under his current portfolio as Chief Executive Officer at the St. Lucia Hospitality and Tourism Association (SLHTA), is charged with the development of strategic plans and re-engineering of organizational structures and systems to ensure a more pro-active role in tourism advocacy and enhanced productivity of the Association and its members.
Under multiple portfolios over the past nine years, Noorani facilitated and led the successful creation and management of:
SLHTA’s Tourism Enhancement Fund which has supported over 100 hundred projects designed to build community resilience, support environmental protection and establish linkages between tourism and other industries
A Hospitality Training Centre which trained over 700 tourism industry employees during its inaugural year in 2017
A local Foreign Languages Learning Centre in collaboration with the Embassy of Mexico and University of Quintana Roo
A Hospitality Apprenticeship Program for Youth which has provided tourism internships for over 550 unemployed youth seeking careers in hospitality
The Virtual Agricultural Clearing House facility which uses a What’s App platform as a trading forum for farmers and hoteliers. Over 400 farmers and 12 hotels participate in the program resulting in trade of almost 1 million dollars of locally grown agricultural produce during its first year of operations. The project has won international best practice awards and recognition from the CHTA and WTTC.
Negotiated the institution of an SLHTA Group Medical Insurance Plan for industry employees via the SLHTA to allow access to medical insurance for employees whose companies cannot afford to provide insurance for them. To date, over 2000 employees currently participate in the program which has greater benefits than any other local plans for the lowest premiums.
Prior to joining the SLHTA, Noorani served as Training and Development Manager for Sandals Resorts International. His responsibilities in this post included conducting training needs assessment of team members and providing training and guidance to line staff and management professionals in a variety of subject areas, both locally and regionally, to ensure consistency in service delivery.
Before this, he served as General Manager at the National Skills Development Centre Inc. (NSDC) for over five years. At NSDC he was responsible for negotiating donor grant funds and managed projects for training unemployed youth in hospitality and other fields of study.
Qualified with a degree in Business Administration and experience as a project development and management specialist, Noorani adds value to community resilience efforts, private sector development and the national growth agenda through excellent human relations skills, effective organizational task management and impeccable character. The opportunity to energize the holistic development of small island developing states and purposefully impact our communities are endeavours which unlock his passions.
