Entrepreneur and technology innovator, Faith Oloruntoba, has said technology will remain central to the growth of travel and related businesses in Nigeria, noting that sustainable progress in the sector depends largely on efficient and people-focused systems.
Oloruntoba, founder of Ivory Luxe Journeys and Groupbuyhive, explained that travel and technology are closely connected because both are built around managing complexity and improving human experience.
According to her, poorly designed systems often create stress and inefficiency, while effective systems make work and coordination easier, especially in sectors like travel, where planning and logistics are demanding.
“Good systems don’t make noise,” she said. “They quietly remove friction and make life easier. That thinking led to the creation of Groupbuyhive, a technology platform designed to help small businesses and communities pool resources, coordinate logistics and make better, data-driven decisions.
“In travel, one person is often holding everything together,” she said. “In retail, one business is negotiating alone against bigger players. These are different industries, but the imbalance is the same.”
She said her entrepreneurial journey began through travel, where she discovered that group trips serve as a strong training ground for leadership. Through Ivory Luxe Journeys, she has coordinated more than 1,000 trips for women, corporate executives and organisations across different continents.
According to Oloruntoba, travel pushes people to make quick decisions, communicate across cultures and adapt to unfamiliar situations, skills that are essential for leadership and entrepreneurship.
However, she observed that behind the excitement of travel experiences are serious planning challenges, including manual coordination, fragmented communication and heavy emotional demands often placed on one organiser.
Her experience working as a senior UX content designer in the financial services sector also influenced her approach to problem-solving. She noted that well-designed technology works quietly in the background by removing friction rather than drawing attention to itself.
This thinking led to the creation of Groupbuyhive, a technology platform designed to help small businesses and communities collaborate, pool resources, and manage logistics more efficiently. She said the same coordination problems she saw in travel also existed in retail and commerce, where smaller players often operate alone against larger competitors.
Oloruntoba’s work has earned international recognition. In 2024, Groupbuyhive won the People’s Choice AmplifyHer Pitch Award at the Collision Tech Conference.
In 2025, she received the Business Innovation Award from Canada Vendors and emerged as the winner of the Leading Ladies Connect Pitch Competition. Groupbuyhive was also named among the Top Three Ventures of 2025 in the Black Founders Network Accelerate programme at the University of Toronto.
She said the recognition was important because it came from industry experts who understand the challenges of building and scaling businesses. As a Nigerian-Canadian founder working in technology, logistics and travel, she admitted that credibility is not always given freely.
Rather than rely on networks, she said she focused on performance, consistency and data-driven results. She added that her Nigerian upbringing helped shape her resilience and ability to innovate within limited resources.
Looking ahead, Oloruntoba said her focus remains on building long-lasting systems that quietly improve how people work, lead and make decisions. She stressed that Nigeria’s travel and business sectors will continue to grow if supported by the right technology and sustainable structures.
