Dupe Olusola: Setting The Pace With Transcorp Hotels

 

 

Dupe Olusola is the managing director and chief executive officer of Transcorp Hilton and is one of Nigeria’s top female executives who have summed up their wealth of experience, coupled with dedication and hard work, towards attaining and setting the pace in their chosen profession.

Through her more than 20-year professional career, she has been able to enjoy a consistent rise in her career as a businesswoman and in the corporate world generally.

She was born on September 26, 1974, in Lagos State, where she attended Queen’s College for her secondary school education and sat for senior school certificate examinations in 1991. She then proceeded to the University of Leicester for her Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) in Economics, between 1993 and 1996, and her Master of Arts degree (M.A.) in Development Economics from the University of Kent in Canterbury, between 1996 and 1997.

Her Career

Her professional career started after her master’s degree in the United States. She worked with Bloomberg, a privately held financial, software, and media company, and Northern Trust in the United Kingdom before moving back to Nigeria.

Having arrived in Nigeria, she worked at SecTrust (now Afrinvest) and thereafter with Africa’s leading private equity firm, SME Manager/African Capital Alliance, and joined the investor relations department of the UBA group in 2008.

Before joining UBA, Dupe had a distinguished career as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Teragro Commodities Limited. At Teragro, a Transcorp Agribusiness subsidiary, she spearheaded a collaboration with Coca-Cola to produce Five Alive Pulpy Orange Juice, making Teragro Nigeria’s sole local material source for the juice.

She was able to sign an agreement with an Israeli company for feasibility studies, establish a good relationship with the farmers, and produce a documentary that was shown internationally.

She was appointed as the Group Head of the Marketing department at UBA where she was saddled with the responsibilities of delivery and development of integrated marketing strategies for all UBA Group bank and non-bank subsidiaries. 

And in September 2016, she became the Group Head Embassies, Multilaterals, and Development Organisations (EMDOs) and Global Investors Services (GIS) at United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, from September 2016 to March 2020, where she led a group of professionals to tailored financial solutions to embassies, multilaterals, and developmental organisations operating across Africa. Under her leadership, the bank’s stake in the EMDOs and GIS sectors in Africa and beyond grew significantly.

Mrs. Dupe Olusola was appointed as the Director of Resources at Transcorp Nigeria Plc, between January 2010 and 2014, and the Managing Director/CEO of Transcorp Hotels Plc, in March 2020, taking over from Owen Omogiafo and leading the strategic operations at Transcorp Hilton Abuja and Transcorp Hotels Calabar.

In 2021, she launched “Aura,” an hospitality mobile application that enables customers to book hotels, short let apartments, and dine in restaurants across the country.

Speaking at the event, Dupe Olusola, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Transcorp Hotels, said Aura will create jobs and help diversify the country’s economy.

“Aura is a digital hospitality platform that gives people the opportunity, at the touch of their fingertips, to book exciting accommodations at all locations in Nigeria.” 

 

Awards and Recognition

Dupe Olusola has been listed in the Leading Ladies Africa/ YNaija’s “100 Most Inspiring Women in Nigeria” List for her passion in Women Affairs and Empowerment, Economic Development of under-developed countries and Financial inclusion.

In 2015, as CEO of Teragro, she was named one of Ventures Africa’s 10 Most Influential Nigerian CEOs.

In 2021, she was listed as one of the top 4 women in Africa in the Strategic Women in Leadership Award (SAWIL).