Bukky Akomolafe is the Commercial Manager at Travelstart, Africa’s largest online travel agency. With offices more than four offices in Africa and the Middle East, Bukky is in charge of Travelstart Nigeria’s local brand strategy, offline marketing and selecting mutually beneficial partnerships. All with the goal of further deepening Travelstart’s penetration in the Nigerian market. Prior to joining Travelstart, she was the Head of Marketing for Rhythm Unplugged, a Flytime produced popular Nigerian concert with headline sponsor Pepsi. Here, she created online & offline marketing campaigns for the 2015 concert featuring Trey Songz and the 2016 concert featuring Nigeria’s best performing artist. She was also responsible for sponsor client relationship management, press relations and branding.
Bukky has over eight years of experience in marketing. Her training began when she moved to the United States in 2005 to attend the George Washington University in DC. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Business Administration, concentration in Marketing and Finance. She then moved to New York to join Ogilvy & Mather, one of the largest marketing communications companies in the world, as an Associate in their prestigious Associates Training Program. There, she helped to launch a $2million growth, strategy and innovation consulting business by converting new business pitches into client assignments. Her client roster included BP, UBS, Blackrock, Catholic Charities and more. She later attended the Yale School of Management for her MBA where she graduated in 2014.
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At Yale, she had a variety of leadership roles; she was the Second Year Career Development Chair on the Student Government, Co-chair of the Black Business Alliance, a Student Admissions Interviewer, a member of the Community and Inclusion Council and the Marketing Director for the Integrated Leadership Case Competition. After graduation, Bukky moved to New York where worked at JP Morgan Chase & Co. She was a Social Media Manager where she served as the content strategist and voice for JP Morgan Chase & Co. on Linkedin as well as provided content advice for JP Morgan. Her last role at JP Morgan & Chase, before moving to Nigeria, was in the Auto Finance, where she worked in business development. Bukky is happily married and lives with her husband in Lagos.
On joining Travelstart, Bukky saw the opportunity to work with young, ambitious go-getter leaders that use data to improve processes and product delivery. “As Commercial Manager, I lead the marketing team and my responsibilities include online and offline marketing, affiliates, sales and business development with strategic partners, and I work with the airlines to further promote their brand.” She says.
Akomolafe has achieved quite a lot working with Travelstart nevertheless, she says working hard has been her main goal. In her words, “I kept my head down, worked very hard, remained consistent with my work ethic and stayed focused on my personal and professional goals. From a Travelstart perspective, I always had clarity around my KPIS, so I knew what my team and I were working towards every day. Most importantly, in my journey, I wasn’t trying to be anyone else but the best version of me. Self-improvement is key to me. I am continually trying to be the best version of myself every day.” Says Bukky
For her, you do not necessarily need a large number of staff to be efficient. Beyond the numbers, proficiency is much more important. According to her, “We have staff strength of close to 50 people, but we are a proof that, sometimes, you don’t need high staff count or plenty of offices to be able to execute excellent work. In addition to that, we are part of a team that is creating a recognisable brand.” Bukky reveals.
Bukky joined Travelstart because of the company’s aim to make travel simple for customers and help to fix the travel challenges in Africa.
