A 29-year-old Victoria Falls-born entrepreneur who has spent years in the United Kingdom pursuing higher education and building an international career has returned home to launch a sustainability management venture aimed at helping tourism businesses understand, improve and demonstrate their environmental, social and business impact.
Ms Tafadzwa Samantha Mazvaravana, together with her husband Mr Thamsanqa Mhlanga, launched Beyond Impact on Friday at an elegant ceremony in Victoria Falls, bringing together representatives from the tourism sector, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, the City of Victoria Falls and other stakeholders.
For Ms Mazvaravana, tourism is more than an industry, it is part of her family history.
Her connection to the destination dates back generations, when her late grandfather, Mr Hogar Nhira, was among the early captains to navigate boats on the Zambezi River, a connection that brought the Nhira family to Victoria Falls.
Since then, tourism has remained deeply woven into the family’s story, with Ms Mazvaravana growing up in Victoria Falls and entering the tourism industry at the age of 16.
“I grew up here, I am a product of tourism revenue and I have always understood what Victoria Falls means to tourism, to Zimbabwe and to the people who call this place home,” she said.
“So the idea of Beyond Impact became about asking a simple question: how can we ensure that the tourism we grow today continues to create value for the destination tomorrow?”
She said rather than viewing sustainability as a collection of isolated initiatives, Beyond Impact approaches it as a management process, helping tourism businesses assess where they are, identify opportunities for improvement, take action, measure progress and ultimately communicate their impact.
“The platform is designed to take businesses through a structured journey, from initial assessment and evidence gathering, through recommendations and action planning, to implementation, reassessment and reporting,” she said.
“The bigger ambition is to help position Victoria Falls and African tourism more broadly at the forefront of a more measurable and accountable approach to sustainable tourism. Victoria Falls has always been a place that attracts the world. I believe we now have an opportunity to show the world that a destination can grow its tourism economy while being intentional about protecting its environment, supporting its communities and building businesses that are resilient for the future.”
Ms Mazvaravana holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Global Security and Strategy from the University of London (SOAS), alongside multiple professional certifications and training, including programmes associated with the University of Oxford.
Her professional journey developed into a growing interest in ESG, sustainability and responsible business, and through research, professional conversations, webinars, training and consulting work she began working more closely with sustainability-related issues, seeing an opportunity within Africa’s tourism sector.
Beyond Impact’s vision is to help build a tourism industry where sustainability is not simply something businesses claim, but something they can understand, manage, measure and demonstrate.
The venture is built around four key areas: nature, people and communities, resources, and resilient business, with a technology-enabled sustainability management system at its heart.
Her husband, Mr Mhlanga, a software and systems engineer, played a key role in transforming her initial concept into a functioning digital system.
“Samantha woke up one day and said, we will transform the narrative around sustainability in Africa, looked me in the eyes and said, you are going to be part of building this with me,” he said.
“Who could say no to such an interesting challenge?”
Speaking at the launch, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority regional manager Mr Daniel Mupande underscored the importance of sustainability, particularly for Victoria Falls as a premier tourist destination.
He said the resort town’s status as a World Heritage Site carried with it a responsibility to balance growth with conservation, and that initiatives such as Beyond Impact were timely in helping operators meet rising global expectations around responsible tourism.
Mr Mupande said sustainability was increasingly shaping traveller choices and destination competitiveness, and welcomed private-sector efforts that complemented the authority’s own drive to position Zimbabwe as a leading sustainable tourism destination.-herald
