Advisor, Tourism Competitiveness & Investment Facilitation

Job Summary

The Tony Blair Institute, in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board, is hiring an Advisor for Tourism Competitiveness & Investment Facilitation embedded at RDB in Kigali. The position drives two priorities: strengthening hospitality service quality standards and inspection operations, and developing a tourism product diversification pipeline alongside front-end investment facilitation systems. Applicants require 10+ years of relevant experience in tourism, hospitality, or public sector delivery. Applications close August 9, 2026.

Key Roles & Operational Responsibilities

1. Strategic Tourism Competitiveness Advisory

• RDB Alignment & NST2 Strategy: Translate Rwanda's premium tourism positioning and National Strategy for Transformation (NST2) targets into operational reforms, product concepts, and delivery roadmaps.
• Bottleneck Diagnosis: Analyze service quality gaps, regulatory friction points, product offer gaps, and investment conversion bottlenecks to produce concise executive briefs and decision papers for senior RDB leadership.

2. Hospitality Service Quality Standards & Regulatory Reform

• Diagnostic & Standards Framework: Conduct rapid diagnostics of current hospitality classification, inspection, and enforcement routines; design a tiered service quality standards framework covering facilities, service delivery, and staff conduct.
• Inspection Operations & Enforcement: Formulate an inspection operations guide and develop practical compliance tools for operators and inspectors, establishing a short-term roadmap to boost regulatory credibility.

3. Tourism Product Diversification & Pipeline Development

• Product Mapping & Opportunity Framework: Map Rwanda's current tourism portfolio, identifying gaps across high-value and emerging segments to design a prioritized product diversification pipeline.
• Investor Proposition Building: Convert high-priority product categories into actionable opportunity concepts and investor-facing prospectuses aligned with destination goals.

4. Tourism Investment Facilitation & Investor Assessment

• Front-End Assessment Framework: Establish an investor evaluation matrix allowing the Tourism Office to evaluate investor credibility, project viability, and strategic fit at early engagement stages.
• Investor Journey & Tracking: Map out cross-departmental investor workflows, operationalize a pipeline tracker, and unblock constraints on priority investment leads.

5. Coordination, Institutional Strengthening & Capacity Building

• Toolkit & Routines: Implement a coordination toolkit including standardized templates, escalation protocols, and review routines across RDB departments and external partner agencies.
• Capability Building: Conduct training sessions for RDB staff on using new inspection tools, investor assessment matrices, and pipeline monitoring systems independently.

Foundational Capabilities & Prerequisites

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Professional Experience: Minimum of ten (10) years of experience in tourism development, hospitality regulation, destination competitiveness, investment facilitation, private sector development, or management consulting.
• Domain Expertise:
  • Demonstrated track record in designing practical operating procedures, inspection tools, regulatory roadmaps, or investor assessment frameworks.
  • Practical experience in identifying, prioritizing, and packaging tourism product opportunities into investor-ready propositions.
  • Experience supporting investment facilitation, investor deal journeys, or private sector engagement in emerging markets (Africa experience highly advantageous).
• Core Capabilities:
  • Exceptional ability to bridge policy, operations, private investors, and government delivery.
  • Advanced analytical, problem-solving, and diagnostic capabilities.
  • Outstanding stakeholder management and communications skills within complex, multi-agency public sector environments.

Why Join the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change?

• Embedded Executive Impact: Work directly alongside senior leadership at the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to shape national economic policies and tourism strategy.
• Global Network: Join a network of over 800 changemakers across 40+ countries supporting political leaders to turn bold ideas into reality.
• Purpose-Driven Culture: Drive tangible, sustainable growth that improves livelihoods, transforms hospitality quality, and elevates Rwanda's global profile.

Skills Required:

• Hotel / Tourism