Brand Voice by The Houghton Hotel 



When it comes to the evolution of unparalleled hospitality in Johannesburg, luxury has a new location at one of Johannesburg’s most exclusive addresses. Whether you are an avid local or international traveller, looking for leisure or a business base, the Houghton Hotel has something to suit your needs. This urban oasis, with a unique and personalised offering, makes guests feel right at home in a modern, contemporary space. The Houghton Hotel prides itself on providing unforgettable experiences for all types of travellers; making every effort to ensure that the hotel exceeds expectations, enveloping guests in a luxury experience that lingers long after check out. 



An exceptional lifestyle resort situated on the sprawling expanse of a signature Jack Nicklaus golf course, in the leafy suburb of Houghton, one of the oldest and most beautiful parts of Johannesburg; the R880 million establishment is the crowning glory in a newly built residential estate, flanked by footpaths navigating lush landscaped gardens. An unexpected escape from the hustle and bustle, and a stone’s throw from the metropolis, The Houghton Hotel is perfectly positioned, affording discerning guests a plethora of options; from exploring the nearby neighbourhoods to soaking up the sumptuous comforts of the hotel, with its signature services and state-of-art facilities.



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Expertly designed by Boogertman + Partners architects, with
the interiors by DSGN, the Houghton Hotel showcases the very best of South
African luxury design and craftsmanship. As a prestigious member of the Leading
Hotels of the World, and having recently been named the Best Luxury Hotel in
South Africa, at the HOSCO Luxury Tourism Awards; it boast 68 beautiful rooms,
suites and penthouses cocooned in layered luxury and offering unobstructed
views of the city skyline and scenic surrounds. Drawing inspiration from the
most iconic hotels around the world, paired with intuitive service that
surpasses standards and exceeds expectations; The Houghton Hotel certainly
delivers a ‘decidedly extraordinary’ experience as one of Johannesburg’s most
luxurious destinations. 



With a palpable passion for hospitality that is deeply
rooted within its cultural identity, The Houghton Hotel is a world-class
facility that rivals some of the greatest hotels globally, while fulfilling the
role of a home away from home. From a fully equipped business centre to
boardrooms proffering personal assistants, and bespoke business conferencing
solutions of up to 500 delegates, as well as a 24 hour concierge service to
ensure that no need goes unmet, there is no detail that has been overlooked in
the architectural gem, which truly captures the imagination: from exotic
Egyptian cotton bedding to extended breakfasts and a five star flagship
wellness centre from Amani Spa; with a restorative and relaxing rasul chamber,
meditation garden and heated infinity pool. Affording guests all the amenities
imaginable, not to mention a spectacular sundowner spot at Sky Bar, with an
uninterrupted vista over Johannesburg; if you can dream it, the Houghton Hotel
should probably be able to make it possible.



For guests interested in medical tourism, The Houghton Hotel
takes pleasure in offering on-site Medical Suites with world-class specialists
and practitioners, and the suites are suited to provide extra care to medical
tourists post-procedure. 



The special attention to the guest&#8217;s dining experience
includes the culmination of good food and great produce at the Nova Deli; with
its culinary cave of cured meats, cheeses, pastries and imported product
offerings. Signature dining at “The H” provides a unique haute cuisine
experience, where guests can enjoy a personalised gastronomic journey. 



The Houghton Hotel was created for people who have earned the right to demand more from life – a place where the option of casual and luxury meld into one; and living up to its promise, the Houghton Hotel is central to The Houghton experience. Combining luxury hotel living with the convenience of the concierge services of a private club, the Houghton Hotel is designed to ensure that every need is not only met, but exceeded.

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An Exclusive Urban Oasis

Anselm Tabansi left a cushy job as an associate lawyer at a prestigious Nigerian firm to follow another path. He was heeding a call and is now a staple in Nigeria’s design and hospitality industry.
“I am a lawyer by profession, so this is not a familiar academic terrain for me. I worked for a law firm specializing in industrial and intellectual property and did that for about four years. I woke up one morning and decided it was not the path for me,” says Tabansi.
An Anselm Tabansi designed space leave a lasting impression on design aficionados. His is a story of passion and intent.
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His creativity reaches back to his academic years in England where an interest for architecture blossomed. While it wasn’t pursued, Tabansi subsequently found himself trading in interior accessories, supplying interior designers and shops at the start of his design career. Wrought iron was the aesthetic trend in England at the time. Tabansi, believing this trend would thrive in Nigeria, made a decision to test the market at home. Following some research, he took the plunge, opening a small-scale production workshop in Lagos. He started with one welder and soon added a painter.
It was a bumpy start, with the new company, Svengali Designs, struggling to gain any prominence. He needed to create some buzz and began producing samples for friends and furniture shops to gauge their interest. Tabansi’s new venture soon proved to be a great decision. Within a year, there was a surge in demand for wrought iron furniture in Nigeria, catapulting Tabansi’s business.
“I started producing wrought iron furniture, wrought iron for balconies, railings, stairs, and gates. It was in high demand at that time but a couple of years later, the trend began to shift away from wrought iron. It had become a fad. I knew we would start to lose a significant amount of clients. The trend was shifting to wood-based furniture. Aluminum and stainless steel for railings, followed closely. We made the necessary shift and we have never looked back,” says Tabansi.
This shift would transform Tabansi’s company from one that produced a single product to a multi-faceted one.
Nigeria’s creative industry has enjoyed rapid growth as homegrown designers were given a more enabling environment. A few challenges still exist however, power and policy being at the forefront.
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“The need to generate our own power is mandatory. This makes production very expensive as we were constantly burning diesel. The raw materials we use for our production are also heavily taxed on duty. This poses a huge challenge and we hope the incoming government addresses this.”
From conference tables to living room furniture, Svengali Designs has carved out a large slice in the market with production for hospitality projects taking off in 1996 and a growing customer base that cuts across key sectors.
Interior design is a key service the company offers. With a mix of locally produced and imported merchandise, clients come from far and wide. The factory has 160 employees.
A joint venture with Turkish company, Poliform, led to Svengali-Poliform, a production arm for stainless steel and aluminum railings. This has a 43-man workforce.
Looking to grow even further, Tabansi ventured into the hospitality business. Nigeria’s hospitality industry is saturated with international brands. Identifying a gap in the homegrown hospitality management industry saw the birth of Fahrenheit Hospitality.
“I am focusing on the boutique segment of the hospitality industry. Through my various past operations, I have assumed full control of over every aspect of delivering on this kind of project. Design, construction, outfitting, supplies and management is all handled within the group. We have not just reduced our costs but also ensured the quality of our design is adhered to.”
“Every final piece is a reflection of my style and taste.”
As he also plays the role of Creative Director, Tabansi supervises all steps of the production process. He says that the quality assurance at Svengali Designs gives his company an edge.
“Over the years, people have come to associate us with quality. It is my joy to hear that pieces that were purchased from us over 15 years ago are still in top form.”
Under the Fahrenheit Hospitality brand, there are plans to roll out a series of boutique hotels.
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As opposed to starting the furniture business years ago, where organic growth was needed, the hospitality brand is a capital intensive project.
“We are currently trying to attract investment with vested interest in our projects,” says Tabansi.
Despite the infrastructural bottlenecks, Tabansi‘s decision to remain a Nigeria-based producer is a conscious one.
Likening his personal style to a simple sophistication, Tabansi urges budding designers to follow their passion.
“I discovered my passion in design. Defining a space, deconstructing it and redefining it. From this, I get so much joy and constantly strive to outdo myself.”
Tabansi tries to cater for a wide spectrum of clients. He, however, says that quality comes with cost.
“Our pieces are affordable and we keep our products within the reach of many.”
Tabansi has exciting plans for the future of Africa’s design and hospitality scene. He aims to be on the frontlines, pushing the envelope.

The Iron Will That Propelled An Entrepreneur To The Top Table

Joyce Banda is wearing a cheerful fuchsia-pink chitenge (Malawian dress), but looks tired.
We meet her in a Johannesburg hotel, where she has been staying on the return leg of her six-week trip – the longest she has been away from Africa – to the United States (US).
“The last few weeks have been hectic,” says Banda, Malawi’s former president and Africa’s second female head of state.
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In the US, she had been rubbing shoulders with Hillary Clinton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, garnering support for the Joyce Banda Foundation, which she has been running on behalf of women and children in Malawi for the last 16 years. In Johannesburg, she also met with Graça Machel, wife of the late Nelson Mandela, to discuss a maternal and child health program.
Back home, it was an equally hectic few months. In a year Malawi is celebrating 50 years of independence, the international press scrutinized it over a high-level graft scandal and chaotic elections.
Banda left Malawi a month after her country’s closely-contested – and controversial – May elections, which saw her and her People’s Party lose to Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Banda was president of the tiny aid-dependent southern African country – among the world’s poorest – for a brief two years, following the death in office of her predecessor Bingu wa Mutharika, the brother of the new president.
“I came into office at a very difficult time. The economy had almost collapsed, but in 24 months, I was able to turn [it] around,” says Banda.
Banda says Malawi’s economy grew from 1.8% in 2012 to 6.2% in 2014. She started well, winning accolades from the West for her economic reform plan and austerity measures, including the IMF-backed devaluation of the kwacha.
“What gives me pride is I left Malawi a better place than when I found it. When I came… we didn’t have fuel for a day, companies were scaling down… I had to work very quickly… By the time I was leaving statehouse, we had a harvest of 3.9 million metric tons. Companies were operating at 85%. We had a forex cover of three-and-a-half months [from a week]… We had fuel for 15 days at any given time… The one thing I wasn’t aware of when I came into office is there was so much corruption, and that corruption affects the gains you make.”
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Banda claims she started the fight against corruption, revamping Malawi’s financial management system, which she says led to 68 arrests and 30 frozen accounts.
The corruption scandal, or Cashgate, saw senior government officials in Banda’s administration charged with misallocating funds. According to Baker Tilly, the British auditors hired by Banda with financial support from the British government, the state was defrauded of about $32 million, almost 1% of Malawi’s annual GDP, between April and September 2013.
But Banda says the financial system was abused by previous governments, dating back to 2001. She knew bringing it to light was not going to be easy.
“I was warned by colleagues across the continent it’s not easy to fight corruption… because you are fighting very powerful people who are benefitting from that kind of money, and if you are not careful, you will get smeared on, be fought through and through, dragged to the ground…,” says Banda.
“I decided to go back to 2010 and 2011, as I saw the benefit of us finding the truth, [as] that is the only way to move forward. The audit reports together with the K6 billion ($15 million) stolen while I was in office, and the K92 billion ($232 million) [from her predecessor’s time] are before parliament now. The good news is that the current president has also decided to go ahead with the fight against corruption,” says Banda.
The May elections brought more grief.
In the aftermath of the polls, which she alleged were rigged, there was a point when she says she had to take responsibility, call for a recount, step aside from contesting, and concede defeat.
“People have asked me, why did you not contest, why did you concede, when the Electoral Commission had also announced there was rigging? I felt it was important for me to allow peace to prevail. I have always said Malawians come first, this was an opportunity for me to demonstrate that. Malawians must have a leader of their choice, but Malawians should also not shed blood. There is life after statehouse and so much more I can do. So I chose to concede, and have no regrets.”
The buzz in Malawi now is what’s next for Banda? Will she return to politics or philanthropy?
Banda says she will continue championing women’s rights not just in Malawi but across Africa, and since her arrival in Malawi, has been involved with projects through her foundation.
Questions abound about her political future.
“There is a sense of deja vu, with the forex situation worsening by the day, and the kwacha weakening against the dollar and other major trading currencies, many fear that a repeat of fuel shortages that characterized the DPP government may come again. That coupled with the failure to meet some campaign promises may push Joyce Banda’s popularity up,” says Mabvuto Banda, a Malawi-based journalist.
There has also been speculation she might be charged for Cashgate.
“Interestingly, the Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale [in August] lauded Joyce Banda for laying the foundation for the fight against Cashgate but he was quick to say more still needs to be done to effect more arrests. He also warned there will be no sacred cows, a statement that may have fueled speculation JB will not be left out,” says the reporter.
“Joyce Banda has a lot of powerful friends outside Malawi but it’s very difficult for me to see how she could be indicted when clearly many would interpret the indictment as trying to victimize her.”
“When you are innocent, when you are fighting for the people, prosecution does not matter,” Banda had said in Johannesburg, days before her return home.
“If I write a book about my life, it will be volumes and volumes. I want to write one book that [tells] any African woman reading it that [you] can be at the lowest in [your] life and bounce back. In my life, I have been down four times. Every woman who reads my book will know that when you fall, you get up, and run again.”

‘Malawians Should  Not Shed Blood’

Every few minutes, they touched down at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. The roads buzzed and hotel lobbies filled as the world arrived for the most important meeting in African business.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, hosted in Abuja, was one of the largest in many years. The biggest names in world business, among 1,000 leaders, were there. They included Aliko Dangote, Pravin Gordhan, Paul Kagame, Uhuru Kenyatta, Li Keqiang and Bineta Diop.
This was a meet to check progress from the last meeting in Cape Town and work out what needs to be done ahead of the next.
Nigeria hosting the gathering reflected its success and trials. In one way it was a celebration after the country was elevated to Africa’s largest economy after the rebasing of its GDP. On Nigeria’s rebased GDP, a wide cross section of investors and prospective entrants confirm that investing in Nigeria has become a priority.
“There is undoubtedly huge potential in this country and the rest of Africa respectively. The real power will, however, only materialize when we get plans into motion and make things work,” says Julian Roberts, the Group Chief Executive of Old Mutual.
On the other side of the coin, the country is still plagued by poor infrastructure and unrest. In Abuja there have been deadly bomb attacks and further north, the Islamist militant group Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls.
It meant public offices and schools closed from May 7 to May 9. Security was beefed up as police squads threw up checkpoints. But, the world made its way to Abuja to tap into Nigeria’s burgeoning market. Investors contributed $21.3 billion in foreign direct investment last year and $2.5 billion in January and February this year alone.
Expectations were high in spite of the difficulties. The forum was set to discuss innovative structural reforms and sustainable investments for creating jobs and prosperity.
“The need to create jobs is a global problem. All countries around the world are concerned about job creation. In Africa, the unemployment problem is compounded by the youthful population and pending demographic transition. Africa’s population is very young…  making African leaders face special challenges,” says Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan.
So, what has changed since the previous forum in Cape Town?
In spite of impressive growth, many African economies have yet to see broad-based prosperity. There are also issues of security, infrastructure, skills, education and health.
Africa’s alarming youth unemployment story is often told in parallel with growth. The youth account for 60% of all of Africa’s unemployed, according to the World Bank. Sub-Saharan Africa’s unemployment rate is at 6% in comparison with the world average of 5%, according to the African Development Bank. The problem is that youth unemployment in most African countries occurs at more than twice the adult rate.
A defective educational system, lack of vocational guidance and training could be to blame.
Nigeria, West Africa’s leading economy is even plagued by intermittent strikes in the classroom.
So, what will WEF achieve?
“It is not just about growth, it’s about the right kind of growth and participants’ focus will not be limited to growing Africa’s economy, but will also highlight means of doing so in an inclusive manner,” says WEF’s head of Africa, Elsie Kanza.
“This meeting is creating tremendous opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa and the continent at large. These opportunities will help to break down barriers and open up new frontiers for business. The theme of this year’s forum is very apt as this is what we are working tirelessly on presently. The power of these forums should not be underestimated,” says Jim Ovia, the $900-million banking veteran and FORBES AFRICA cover in June last year.
Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to remain the world’s second fastest growing region &#8211; a result of more efficiency in resource utilization, better governance and rising domestic demand. Challenges and opportunities shaping Africa’s growth outlook are often under-estimated. These issues went under the microscope at the forum.
Nigeria’s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says infrastructural and logistical challenges will continue to hamper the growth of the continent. West African leaders drew up plans to build highways to boost intra-Africa trade, as has been seen in East Africa.
Kenya has signed a $3.6 billion Mombasa-Nairobi railway deal with China. The railway will connect Kenya with the rest of the region and open up trade within East Africa.
Security in Nigeria was also on the agenda with the schoolgirl abduction in the headlines. Jonathan thanked the international community for their support on the issue but questions still hang over what the government will do.
It was announced by Okonjo-Iweala that a sum of $10 million has been approved by the state for a safe school project. A further $10 million will be provided by Nigerian business. This is seen as a move to improve security in Nigerian schools.
Lack of power in Africa poses a major threat to economic growth. Nigeria’s parlous power sector and power privatization process, the biggest on the continent yet, has spurred global interest.
“We are getting somewhere and it will not be an overnight transformation. We are excited about the transformation this sector will experience and urge Nigerians to have some belief and patience in the process,” says Okonjo-Iweala.
Trade between Africa and China is also expected to continue to grow.
“This is definitely the world’s largest inclusive growth. Africa needs to develop its infrastructure and industries while China boasts a stronger and spare capability of investment and construction in this area. Thus, the economies of China and Africa are highly complementary and both sides’ development is each other’s opportunity. China and Africa shall complement each other in mutually beneficial co-operation to give a stronger impetus to each other’s development,” says Li Keqiang, the premier of China.
Technology can also drive the continent’s economy.
“A vast number of people have been digitally empowered and are more open to economic participation. Getting this critical mass to act accordingly should be a stronger focus. Therein lies an opportunity,” says Hendrik du Toit, the CEO of Investec Asset Management.
WEF also announced so-called Global Growth Companies (GGCs) in Africa. These are 16 high growth companies on the continent with innovative revenue growth and sound corporate governance. The selected companies are: Seplat Petroleum Development Company (Nigeria), Computer Warehouse Group (Nigeria), Interswitch Limited (Nigeria), Nagode Group (Nigeria), UAC of Nigeria (Nigeria), Notore Chemical Industries (Nigeria), Nation Media Group (Kenya), Bidco Oil Refineries (Kenya), GML (Mauritius), Growthpoint Properties (South Africa), KZN Oils (South Africa), Net1 UEPS Technologies (South Africa), Tekkie Town (South Africa), Capitec Bank (South Africa) Webber Wentzel (South Africa) and Simba Group (Uganda).
WEF and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development set a joint task force to redesign financing for Africa and developing economies. According to Development Initiatives, an independent organization working on poverty alleviation, approximately $1.7 trillion flows from the developed to the developing world. The task force will redeploy the finance to key sectors of the economies that will benefit the most.
For now, Africa waits in anticipation to see whether the proof is in the pudding.

Tag: hotel

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

An Exclusive Urban Oasis

The Iron Will That Propelled An Entrepreneur To The Top Table

‘Malawians Should Not Shed Blood’

Time For Action