Travel tech company, Wakanow Nigeria has appointed Adenike Macaulay as Chief Executive Officer.
Effective January 2023, Macaulay, who was initially the Chief Commercial Officer in Wakanow, will join forces with the team to position the company in a direction where further growth is promised.
Macaulay was the first female and first Nigerian appointed as General Manager of Sales for Lufthansa Group in Nigeria & Equatorial Guinea where she led the teams in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Malabo. She also led all commercial and sales activities for Lufthansa Group in the region.
Added to her capabilities, she is the immediate past Chairperson of the International Air Transport Association Local Customer Advisory Group (LCAG) and Vice Chair of the IATA Agency Program Joint Council (APJC).
She holds an MBA from the University of Warwick in the UK, a BSc in Systems Engineering from the University of Lagos, and a Professional Diploma from the Digital Marketing Institute, Ireland amongst other qualifications.
She was recently recognized by the International Hospitality Institute as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Africa’s Travel and Hospitality industry. She was also recognized by Leading Ladies Africa as one of Nigeria’s 100 most inspiring women in 2019, by Guardian Nigeria as Woman of the week in March 2019 and by Poets & Quants as top 100 MBAs worldwide in 2020.
Speaking on the appointment, Bayo Adedeji, the Group CEO of Wakanow Group said, “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Mrs. Adenike Macaulay as the Chief Executive Officer of Wakanow. She has been an invaluable addition to the management of Wakanow since she joined us and with her vast experience and exposure in the aviation sector, we definitely will consolidate our growth trajectory in Nigeria”.
“We are expanding into new verticals and Countries in Africa & beyond to take advantage of new business opportunities in the emerging competitive landscape leveraging our deep competence and expertise in the travel tech industry, and I will be leading this venture as Group CEO,” he added.
He also noted that Wakanow is very excited about the bright future ahead in the African travel and tourism industry, with the provision of easily accessible end-to-end services made available to every African through the leverage of technology and strategic partnerships.
Adenike Macaulay added that the past 18 months with Wakanow have been immensely exciting as the company has recorded several milestones and record-breaking results in its history. “I’m excited to take on the new responsibility saddled upon me by the board and management of Wakanow and look forward to leading and building with an immensely talented team,” she highlighted.
