Location
São Vicente, Cabo Verde

Project Type
Training
Hospitality

The Skills Lab is our hospitality training initiative designed to help women and youth build practical pathways into the tourism and hospitality industry in Cabo Verde.

Currently in development, the Skills Lab is being designed as a flexible and accessible training model that combines hands-on learning, workplace readiness, and direct exposure to real hospitality environments.

The program was created to address a simple but important gap: many hospitality roles require confidence, communication skills, operational understanding, and professional exposure that can be difficult to access without prior experience or formal training.

Our goal is to help participants build those foundations through practical, immersive learning experiences that prepare them for real opportunities within the hospitality sector.

The Skills Lab will begin through short-form intensives, workshops, and applied learning programs focused on hospitality fundamentals and workplace readiness, with plans to expand into longer-format training pathways over time.

Areas of learning may include:

• Guest experience and front-of-house hospitality

• Communication and service excellence

• Housekeeping and operational standards

• Food, beverage, and event support

• Hospitality English and professional communication

Rather than relying primarily on classroom-based learning, participants learn through practice, repetition, simulations, collaborative projects, live events, and partnerships with hospitality operators and community spaces.

A core part of the Skills Lab is helping participants transition from training into employment.

Through partnerships with hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, retreats, studios, and hospitality projects, SOLM aims to connect participants to internships, apprenticeships, and long-term job opportunities across the tourism ecosystem.

The Skills Lab also recognizes that hospitality extends far beyond traditional hotel roles. Future pathways may include operations, guest relations, events, wellness, administration, cultural programming, creative production, tourism support services, and entrepreneurship.

Alongside technical and professional skills, the program introduces participants to a broader understanding of regenerative hospitality: an approach where tourism creates stronger local participation, supports local communities and culture, and contributes positively to the places it operates within.