Human capital critical for business survival—Sunbird

Sunbird Hotels and Resorts has said human capital is critical for every company’s survival; hence, it is committed to staff development initiatives at all levels.

The hotel chain’s human resources manager, Edward Chunga, said on Saturday at Sunbird Nkopola that well-trained and committed staff coupled with positive attitude will always set them apart f by offering high quality guest responsive value for money packages and services.

He was speaking during the official closing ceremony of a two-week course in life-saving for 20 swimming pool attendants and beach minders.

“Our people are our singular source of sustainable competitive advantage. Sunbird will continue and maintain its role as the leader in the hospitality industry in Malawi and, as such, we will continue to develop and expose staff to relevant emerging trends in their respective functions and profession,” he said.

Chunga said Sunbird cannot compromise on guests’ safety in the hotels, more so, in water where chances of survival if an accident happens are slim; hence, providing the training which it has been carrying out annually since 2007.

Representative of the participants, Christopher Chanunkha, said they have learned a number of skills, which they were not aware of and promised to use them to save lives of their “valuable customers”.

Malawi Defence Force (MDF) marine unit commanding officer Major Genesis Munlo said while it is accepted that accidents are inevitable in life, it is sad and it frightens potential customers when someone has drowned in a swimming pool.

“I hope that this life saving course which is run annually will put these incidences to rest. I also urge the participants to put to good use all the skills and knowledge acquired during the training as life is a precious thing that must be protected at all costs,” he said.

The 20 participants were taken from five of seven Sunbird Hotels and Resorts, namely Sunbird Capital and Sunbird Lilongwe, Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre, Sunbird Livingstonia Beach in Salima and Sunbird Nkopola Lodge.