Women in Business: Dupe Olusola

Dupe Olusola is a Nigerian business executive. She is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria-based hospitality company, Transcorp Hotels plc, a subsidiary of the Nigerian conglomerate, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria.

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Transcorp Hotels Plc, formerly Transnational Hospitality & Tourism Services Limited (THTSL), is the hospitality subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), a diversified conglomerate with interests in the power, hospitality, agriculture, and oil and gas sectors, headquartered in Lagos. It was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in January 2015.

Transcorp hotels has properties in Abuja; the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja, a destination hotel in Calabar; Transcorp Hotels Calabar, and planned properties in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

In 2005, the Federal Government of Nigeria privatized NIRMSCO Properties Limited, the then-owner of the Nicon Hilton Hotel, Abuja. As part of a consortium, Transcorp Plc purchased a proprietary stake in the company and became the core investor, while the federal government retained the remaining 49 per cent. Hilton International LLC was engaged to manage the property.

In March 2020, Dupe was appointed to head Transcorp Hotels by existing board members, becoming the second woman to lead the organisation. Before joining Transcorp Hotels Plc, Dupe was Group Head of Marketing at United Bank for Africa (UBA) and was involved in leading all marketing efforts of UBA Group’s 23 countries of presence.

She had previously served as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria-based agricultural company, Teragro Commodities Limited, the agribusiness subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp Plc). She was appointed to the position in 2014.

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

Dupe attended Queen’s College, Lagos, where she obtained her GCE O-levels in 1991. After O-levels, she enrolled at University of Leicester, United Kingdom where graduating in 1996 and went on to obtain a Masters degree (MSc) in Development Economics from the University of Kent in 1997.

After her Masters, Dupe worked in different roles with Bloomberg and Northern Trust in the United Kingdom before moving back to Nigeria.

In Nigeria, she worked in 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 a move to Transcorp as Director of Resources in January 2010.

In 2014, she was appointed to lead the now-defunct Agribusiness arm of Transcorp – Teragro Commodities Limited as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.

As CEO of Teragro Commodities, she was responsible for the acquisition of two farmlands measuring 10,000 hectares in Benue State for citrus farming and spearheaded a partnership with Coca Cola to produce Five Alive Pulpy Orange Juice making Teragro the sole local material source for the juice

In March 2020, she was appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Hotels Plc., taking over from Owen Omogiafo and leading the strategic operations of its flagship property Transcorp Hilton Abuja and Transcorp Hotels Calabar.

Dupe 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.

Dupe is married to life coach, Lanre Olusola and they have two children.