Notwithstanding the tumultuous year 2020 has been, nothing, really, can stop the travel industry in Nigeria. People have braved insecurity, diseases, perceived cold hosts, bad roads, expensive fares, bad weather, and kept the travel industry alive this year. A lockdown may have locked down activities in that space, but, how long can you keep the Leopard chained?
This is why, at YellowLyfe, we have listed these individuals who have been influential in the travel industry this year.
Are your faves on the list? Read on!
Omotoke Fatoki
Omotoke’s story is a single story spread out to a thousand pages of travel history, and her 2020 is one we may want to be part of. From celebrating exploring all 36 States of the most populous nation in Africa to announcing exploring the 774 local governments, you are definitely missing out on this one if you are not with her.
Toke likes to call herself “the Alárìnká of Afrika”, the one other young Nigerian braving the storm, promoting tourism and culture in Nigeria, showcasing one destination at a time.
Don’t sleep on this one.
Tosin Oyewole
Tosin is a bucketlist traveller with an inspiring Instagram feed worth looking through. He is a gourmand, UX expert, and a technology guru. A Project Manager during the day and a strategist for SMEs as a side hustle. He continually dishes out holiday picks with the hacks he posts about Dubai, California and wherever he goes.
Tosin works with SMEs in the Retail, Food, Fashion, Hospitality, Travel and Media space to design new products, strategy and boost their business performance using the right technology.
Tayo Aina
You could literarily make great accommodation and travel decisions just watching Tayo’s YouTube videos. He understands what selling really means and he does it quite well.
Tayo makes content surrounding Travel, Lifestyle, and Real Estate, telling amazing stories and showing all of the beautiful goodness Africa has to offer. And in 2020? No, he has not slowed down – not with over 170,000 subscribers on YouTube. See here.
Fisayo Olayinka-Bello
Fisayo is an award-winning travel blogger, tourism development advocate, podcast host, teacher teaching travel blogging courses, and an innovator who thrives at the intersection of tourism, technology and advocacy.
One of her goals for 2020 was to add value to other people’s lives based on the knowledge she has gathered as a travel blogger over three years – check out her travel courses. Do you think she made it? Well…her listing on the Top 30 Tourism & Hospitality Influencers in Nigeria 2020 by ThePyneAwards is one pointer that she added value.
“Africa is rich in a lot of resources, culture, and beautiful travel destinations that is yet to be explored”. Africa is a safe place to visit and not a jungle”, she says.
Jessica Ufuoma
Travel is one of Jessica’s biggest passions. After bagging a Master’s degree in Business, she developed a love for travel and birthed a blog to share her experiences and stories with the world.
She has so far visited over forty countries and lived in four continents. She has a full-time job as an Analyst in Downtown Toronto and travels the world with her Nigerian passport. When not travelling, she likes finding new spots around town and sharing cocktails and moments with friends.
Sounds like someone who is fun at travels.
Bayo ‘Lion’ Adedeji
Bayo is a technology and retail expert with years of real-world experience and knowledge that connects the dots between the past and future to help drive and deliver sales, profit and turns while building sound financial foundations and developing executable operational strategies.
He joined Wakanow.com – the largest Online travel agency in Nigeria – as the Chief Transformation Officer after a $40 million private equity investment into the business. His achievement got him promoted to chief commercial officer in 4 months and eventually chief executive officer to lead the business in 4 months subsequently. He is currently leading the company through one of the world’s darkest periods COVID-19.
Adedamola Idowu
Adedamola has a demonstrated history of working in the leisure, travel & tourism industry. He founded Irinajo “as a result of my passion for travelling and discovering new places.”
Irinajo is a tourism company that tells the African story with a focus on its history, culture and the beauty of nature through organised trips.
He said in an interview, “Irinajo stands out because of the number of problems we solve both directly and indirectly in the tourism sector. We provide information, advisory and logistic services (the major hindrances to interest from tourists) on the tourism industry of our target destinations.”
Chiamaka Obuekwe
Chiamaka is a co-founder and CEO of Social Prefect Tours – which began in 2015 through her blog – an African tourism company which seeks to connect people across the continent through tour guide within Africa, school excursions, group tours and cooperate retreats.
Chiamaka’s story is that she fell in love with travel after travelling to some parts of Nigeria and found out that the country actually has beautiful tour destinations – unlike the popular consensus.
Olusola Medese
Olusola’s pictures on the internet will make you want to pack your bags and start going just about anywhere. She is the CEO/Creative Director of Travelafcon – a full-service travel agency – founded in 2018 – curating custom travel experiences for groups, hosted groups and individual clients. We specialize in family travel, corporate incentive travel, honeymoon packages, individual reservations and we offer services to a wide array of clients all across the world.
In her quest to inspire change through tourism, Olusola works as a tour guide and travel professional with about sixteen tours across Africa.
Funmi Oyatogun
Funmi designs travel packages, tourism masterplans, games and digital content to help people travel better! BBC and CNN have tagged her ‘Africa’s Most Adventurous Woman‘ or simply the ‘Travel Girl!’ Her work helps people explore the world better whether they are on a plane or on the ground.
She has committed to telling African stories through travel/tourism and her journey is already kilometres away. Don’t let her leave you behind.
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