WITNext – Inspiring Young Minds replaces WIT*e – Inspiration & Mentoring which was launched two years ago as an evening event to provide mentorship to students and young talent, and to enable them to learn from and network with travel professionals in an informal environment.
Last night was our 10th WIT*e – 7 in Singapore, 2 in Bangkok and 1 in Melbourne so far. Have to say, it was the best so far – great content, thanks to our speakers – see our coverage on Cover It Live; strong turnout – a mix of students, entrepreneurs and travel professionals and of course, outstanding beer and food at Thai microbrewery, Tawandang.
With this 10th WIT*e, we thought it was time to give it wings, let its inspiration and mentoring cross physical boundaries. So we will be building a portal at WITNext (www.witnext.com) which is intended to become a one-stop resource for young people who want to build a career and/or create a business in travel and tourism. We also want it to become a site where they share travel experiences.
WITNext’s mission is simple: “We inspire and mentor young people to develop their careers, create businesses, make money and find fulfilment in travel and tourism. We do this by generating thoughtful content and bringing like-minded people together to exchange ideas and share experiences in work, play and life.”
WITNext will engage with Gen Next as both talent and travellers.
We want to thank our founding patrons – Abacus, Accor Hotels Asia Pacific, Brand Karma, BCD Travel Asia Pacific, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Don Birch, Singapore Tourism Board and Travel Start, South Africa – for supporting WITNext.
We really do have a good representation of the industry in our patronship – technology, hospitality, social media/marketing, corporate travel agency management, airlines, entrepreneurship, destination marketing and online travel agency.
Patrons will act as our advisors and mentors and bring their resources to bear in our portal.
Last night, we also asked attendees to help us decide on the logo – we put the brief out on 99 Designs and received 63 entries. Turned out the people’s choice was also our choice. So here’s the logo, revealed for the first time here.
Driving WITNext will be Nur Syazanah Haniff, a Gen Next herself.
I first met Syaz, a Singapore Management University graduate, at a WIT*e in Singapore and was struck by a certain glint in her eye.
She went on with two partners to launch an online start-up, Forget Boundaries, and took part in the Start-Up Pitch at the WIT Conference last year.
I felt she is the right person to take on WITNext given she’s experienced what it’s like to graduate fresh out of university with no idea what she wanted to do except pursue her passion for travel.
Said Syaz, “I am excited to be a part of this new initiative from WIT and am looking forward to embark on something that can help nurture and welcome new talent to the travel and tourism industry.
“I’ve met many people through WIT*e and WIT who’ve helped me and my partners grow as entrepreneurs in the industry. WIT*e is a great event which provides inspiration for innovation and exchange of ideas among like-minded individuals. I always learn something new at every session.
“I hope to achieve the same goal with WITNext, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and ideas between our industry experts and the youth audience interested to find out more about travel and tourism.”
Brand Karma will be our technology partner in building up the website which we hope will be ready by July. We will share more during the second WITNext on June 1 in Singapore. Yes, WITNext will both be physical and virtual because we believe in blending the best of both worlds.
We plan for it to have blogs by mentors, a community feature to enable sharing, a matching area for internships and job opportunities, a place that will house “Travel 101” materials and educational videos.
We welcome all contributions – if you are interested in becoming a patron/mentor or want to ask more questions about WITNext, contact us at [email protected].
