By Ibrahim Sorious Samura
In a bid to boost the tourism industry in Sierra Leone, and to also empower the youthful population in the country, Vivid Emporium is coming up with the 2018 Youth and Tourism Expo at the Country Lodge Hotel at Hill Station Freetown on the 17th and 18th November 2018. The event is to showcase our culture and arts. This will be backed up by a Fundraising and Fashion show geared towards the building of an Arts and Cultural Center for young people.
The founder of Vivid Emporium – Kadiatu Kamara (a Sierra Leonean based in the US) told this media that she want to establish a training center to empower the youth and to also boost the tourism sector of the country. Madam Kamara has been working with young people for the past 8 years by providing employment for them, teaching them how to perfect their skills and how to market their works. She therefore wants to continue her good work by building a school that will cater for a bigger number of young people. If completed, the center will be a useful resource for young people.
They will be taught about touristic features, how to promote tourism through arts,ย how to develop their arts and market them. They will learn about our culture and history and how to sustain them. “There’s a huge tourism twist in this project, ” she says.
The proceeds from the center can be used to support other similar projects.
Kadiatu has been giving lectures to universities in the United States of America, especially the UNC (University of North Carolina, where she normally talks about African cultures, sustainable fashion and businesses. She is planning to do exchange programs with these US universities in the near future, where the best students from the center will be able to travel to the United States for more knowledge. They will be able to market our cultures overseas.
This Youth and Tourism Expo will happen in two ways. Day 1,ย which is the Fundraising and Fashion Show,ย the event will be spiced by performances from Nasser Ayoub, Fantacee Wiz, Famous and more. Day 2 is the Exhibition and Pool Party for the whole family. The patron tickets for the two days program will be as follows: Le 150,000 for ordinary, Le 500,000 for V.I.P and Le 3,000,000 for table for 4 people.
