Vivian Ogutu is the Manager of the Lounges at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. She describes the 15 month process of designing and constructing Kenya Airways' new luxurious lounges, which featured extensive customer research and input from stakeholders to define the design details. Ogutu says the lounge design celebrates African culture and features a "melting pot" area inspired by traditional African storytelling around fires, and a honeycomb ceiling referencing the cultural importance of honey. She also discusses her role in ensuring seamless lounge experiences worldwide and her favorite food and drink options in the lounges.

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Vivian Ogutu is the Manager of the Lounges at Jomo Kenyatta’s T1A.
Msafiri asked her about the story behind KQ’s luxurious new lounges
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defining the details on paper before
construction. After that, the rest was
implementation and the hard work of
construction.
How did you decide on the
décor that would be used for
the lounges? The lounge design is a
celebration of Africa. We are the Pride of
Africa and it was important for us to
celebrate the beautiful richness of our
continent and spirit.
How long did the new lounges
take to complete? It took close
to 15 months from design to completion.
What were the biggest
challenges? The biggest
challenge was our biggest opportunity
– getting everyone on board, sold on the
vision of creating Africa’s best lounges.
As Manager of the Lounges,
what are the key aspects of
your role? I have to keep
finding creative ways
to delight our high valued guests not just
in JKIA but network wide. It’s a
continuous challenge and that’s what I
love the most about my role.
What do you think are the best
features of the lounges? I
definitely love ‘the melting pot’ – I love
the inspiration around it. Basically it
encapsulates the African spirit of togeth-
erness. In the olden days, after dinner,
people would sit around the fire and tell
stories. It was how our cultural heritage
was passed from one generation to the
next. That’s why the feature is round in
design. The second feature is the
‘honeycomb’ on the ceiling. Honey is a
key element of the African culture. I
specifically love how this feature
introduces the contemporary aspect of
the design by its geometric nature and
adds so much depth to the space.
What are the future plans?
Ensuring our lounge experience
is seamless network wide.
What are your favourite food
and drink options in the
Lounges? I love our wine list – my
favourite is the Rupert and Rothschild
Baron Edmond 2011 Vintage. I also love
our coffee. It’s made from freshly ground
Kenyan Dorman’s coffee and the latte is
to die for. I don’t have a favourite meal
per se but I love our breakfast. It’s a full
breakfast with a lot of elements. I
especially like our waffles and ngwace,
– a very Kenyan breakfast item.
Meet a manager
SAFARI NJEMA
KQ PEOPLE
Tell us about the development
of the new lounges at T1A?
There is a wise saying, “If you have six
days to cut down a tree, spend the
first five days sharpening the axe.” The
Lounge concept began with customer
research. We wanted the voice of the
customer incorporated into the design.
From the research we came up with a
wishlist that basically informed the design
details. We had a team of stakeholders
that met every other day to discuss the
design details and we spent a long time
Vivian Ogutu
VIVIAN SAYS
“We are ranked
number three in the
SkyTeam Alliance by
our passengers. This
for me validates
our efforts.”
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