LEADERSHIP Awards: Dupe Olusola Is CEO of the Year 2023

Dupe Olusola is a dynamic, results-oriented leader with a track record of building profitable businesses and delivering superior performance. She has over 22 years of corporate experience spanning various sectors locally and internationally. She became the CEO of Transcorp Hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic and successfully led the company back to profitability, with its share price growing more than 600 per cent over the past year.

With a deep knowledge of corporate and retail market economics with expertise in identifying opportunities, delivering strong revenues and profits, and positioning businesses for sustainable growth in competitive markets, Dupe Olusola has continued to leverage her business acumen and impressive networking skills to help maintain Transcorp Hilton Abuja’s status as the place to hold major events of international repute, as well as the accommodation of choice for the most respected individuals in business and government. 

In November 2023, Transcorp Hilton Abuja set up marquees within its premises to host events that its venues could not accommodate, thus reinforcing its position as the most-preferred choice for holding events in the country. The innovative way the company retained its guests when it could have simply turned them back on account of being fully booked is representative of Dupe Olusola’s unending drive to lead the company to greater heights.

Under her leadership, the company delivered revenue growth of 47 per cent to N31.4 billion in 2022 from the N21.4 billion recorded in 2021. This impressive achievement is the highest revenue generated since the inception of the hotel and has set the group above its pre-COVID performance levels. Also, Transcorp Hotels has continued to record strong growth within the year, even as the world continues to wrestle with challenging events and a changing risk landscape.

Already, Transcorp Hotels Plc, Transcorp Hilton Abuja and Dupe Olusola herself have been recognised on different global stages this year. The awards include Booking.com’s Traveller Review Award 2023, Five World Travel Awards, World Luxury Hotel Awards and two Seven Stars Luxury Hospitality and Lifestyle Awards for Transcorp Hilton Abuja. 

Transcorp Hotels Plc also won the Brand Communicator’s Most Outstanding Hospitality brand while Dupe Olusola won the Seven Stars Luxury Hospitality and Lifestyle Awards’ CEO of the Year 2023. Earlier in the year, Transcorp Hotels was awarded the Outstanding Employer of the Year 2022 by the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, and Olusola was named World’s High Rising Women Leaders Making a Difference in 2023 by the World Leader’s magazine.

Transcorp Hotels Plc under Olusola’s leadership has also received the leading Company in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) award from HOFSTEDE Insights for two years in a row.

 Transcorp Hilton Abuja has hosted over 100 presidents and other world leaders at different times this year.