Steering one of Zimbabwe’s leading hospitality groups through the current era of renewed growth and development is the key focus of Rutendo Badenhorst, the new managing director of Cresta Hotels Zimbabwe.
She took up the position towards the end of 2024, having for several years headed up the financial team at Cresta Marakanelo Hotels in Botswana. Now, at the helm of Cresta in Zimbabwe, her role is aimed at providing strategic direction as the group seizes on all the opportunities flowing from the significant regrowth of international travel and tourism under way.
“This is a most exciting time for travel and tourism across the world, as the number of travellers increases beyond pre-Covid levels and greater interest is shown in Southern Africa as a destination of choice for many such travellers,” Badenhorst said.
“Cresta is excited by the prospects for growth of our tourism sector and the impact this will have on the country’s overall economic performance. We are linked to sister operations in Botswana and South Africa and this reinforces the increasing drive to develop travel into and within the Southern African region as a whole.
“As the new leader of the Cresta Zimbabwe team, I have been impressed by the major effort and achievement within the group in recent years in the areas of property refurbishment, staff development and expansion of the customer base. It is my intention to consolidate this by focusing on continuous improvement, service excellence, expansion of operations and ensuring that the Cresta contribution to Zimbabwe is both significant and meaningful to the communities we serve.”
Born and educated in Bulawayo, she holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science Honours degree from the University of South Africa and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Pretoria. She is also a qualified chartered accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe.
Her career experience in financial administration started with Delta Corporation, where she completed her articles from 2000 to 2003, after which she moved to Innscor Africa, holding senior financial positions in Zimbabwe and Zambia between 2004 and 2010. She joined the Masawara group in 2010 and served as group financial controller until 2017, when she moved across to Cresta Marakanelo Hotels in Botswana as chief financial officer.
She has previously served on the boards of Zimnat Asset Management and Grand Reinsurance Zimbabwe and was recently invited to become a board member of the Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe, which is the voice of the operators across the whole travel and tourism sector in the country.
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Cresta Hotels operates five well-known hotels in Zimbabwe: Cresta Lodge, Cresta Jameson and Cresta Oasis in Harare, Cresta Churchill in Bulawayo and Cresta Sprayview in Victoria Falls.
The group was recently contracted to manage Rupurara Valley Lodge, a newly-reopened top-end establishment in Nyanga, and will be involved in a major new pension fund-developed hotel in Victoria Falls.
Badenhorst is married and has a young daughter. She is an avid traveller and reader.
