Community

The Moivaro Group was founded in 1999 by Mr. Gijs de Raadt in Tanzania. Gijs was born in Uganda, studied at the School of Tourism and graduated in African Studies. After his studies, Gijs traveled and worked in fourteen African countries. During his travels he kept on wondering what the best way was to contribute to the lives of local people living in poverty. With many NGO projects he noticed there was a so-called ‘boomerang effect’, where the projects were good for some but not for all. For instance, he saw a container full of shoes being brought to a small village in Tanzania. Many people were very happy with their new shoes, but the local shoemaker and the market salesmen who earned their living selling shoes, were out of work. With this realization he wanted to create a sustainable living for local Tanzanians.

When Gijs started building his first lodge in Arusha, the first thing he did was build a big natural fence at the entrance. As soon as the fence was put up, people from the village began coming up to the fence to ask for work. At least 40 people per day - old, young, educated, uneducated, everyone was looking for a job. That’s when Gijs realized how he could contribute; by creating as many jobs as possible. He set out on a mission to train and empower the people living in the area to enable them to take care of their own lives, children and families.

What started as a dream, with only 1 lodge and 4 jobs, has grown into a large company, with hundreds of employees on the payroll and a spin-off to the wider community. Over the years it has become our strong belief that providing the opportunity to learn, work, and grow is the best way to fight against poverty and empower communities. By staying at a Moivaro property, you can be assured to contribute to our wider mission of empowerment and poverty reduction. We hope to continue training staff members and keep growing in order to provide more and more jobs in different areas.