Grace Lufuluvhi Sibara

Hayani Guest House, Hayani Manor and Gracas Lifestyle Solutions

Opportunities are vast, and it takes a committed individual to venture into the relevant opportunity.

When Grace Lufuluvhi Sibara, 59, ventured into tourism business it was in response to an inborn passion for entertaining friends and family at her house in Flora Park, Polokwane, which she later transformed into a guest house.

The establishment grew to include conference facilities, and today she owns Hayani Guest House in Polowane and Hayani Manor in Vuwani, including a travel agency, Gracas Lifestyle and Solutions, in the village of Hamangilasi near Thohoyandou.

Sibara has since gone on to be acknowledged for her businesses in the tourism sector. Her impressive collection of accolades include the Limpopo SMME Award, Africa Growth SMME Award and the FNB Enablis Award as National Finalist, to name just a few. She serves on a number of business platforms, including as chairperson of the Limpopo Business Women Forum, executive committee member for the Limpopo Provincial

Tourism Association and treasurer for the

Organisation of Women in International Trade

South Africa, among others.

She’s a believer that tourism industry needs innovative women willing to keep learning. “I have just completed an Executive Development Programme for Women in Tourism offered by Unisa, sponsored by the Department of Tourism,” she says.

“I completed a Business Management Programme offered by Nedbank and the Department of Tourism. I learn every day and engage in tourism forums to confirm the notion that women can also deliver.”