Académique Documents
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travel and work in over 15 Nigerian and 10 African cities. I “Sports Medicine has
have also developed my leadership and management skills also exposed me to
in my position as the Clinical Director of Special Olympics the world of
International Healthy Athletes Program in Nigeria. Most
international sports;
importantly it introduced me to the opportunities in
it gave me an
African Tourism.
opportunity to travel
My career in sports medicine was my first venture. Sports and work in over 15
Medicine is an undeveloped medical specialty in Nigeria. I Nigerian and 10
was confident that there was a need to develop specialists African cities.... Most
in the field of sports medicine despite criticisms from importantly it
family and friends. With passion and a vision for a future introduced me to the
as a Sports Physician, I undertook a clinical attachment at opportunities in
the Columbia University Center for Shoulder Elbow and African Tourism.”
Sports Medicine and some additional training with the
International Olympic Committee and the International
Federation of Sports
Medicine. A few years
later I have had the
privilege of working as the
Team Physician of the
Nigerian National Hockey
Team and was appointed
as the Clinical Director of
the Special Olympics
International Healthy
Athletes Program in
Nigeria. I was also
appointed as the Chief
Medical Officer of the FIBA
Africa Men’s Basketball
Championship in 2006 and
got a chance to work at
the 2008 African Cup of
Nations hosted in Accra Ghana and was most recently
accepted as a member of the FIFA Football Medicine
Network. There have been many failures along the way in © The Ajala Travel Company: Dr
my quest to contribute to the world of sports medicine, Dayo Osholowu Ajala Cofounder
but this venture has been more rewarding. Today I see on his first Bunji Jump in Victoria
even great opportunities in the African Tourism industry Falls Zimbabwe
thus my newest venture: Ajala.
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Every venture has a beginning, what began two years ago
as a group trip organized for 7 friends who really wanted
to see the pyramids in Egypt has evolved into a brand
name in outgoing tourism in Nigeria and is set to become
the most recognized brand name arranging packages tours
for residents of Nigerian cities who want to see the
leading destinations in the world.
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story. In a sense Ajala the myth is the story teller. The “By November 2009, a year
beauty of the Ajala brand is that it is already some form of
and a half after their first
cultural icon in the minds of most Nigerians we have
tour organized for 7 friends
surveyed. Most people recognized the name and are quick
to draw a connection between the old fables of a local
to Egypt, we had recorded
traveller going global and a start up Travel Company. 3000 customer inquiries
and 4 million naira in sales.
We aim to draw associations from the myth of the man. Ajala was also appointed
Just as he sated his thirst for new experiences through
as the Tourism promotion
travel and adventure, we like to see ourselves as in a
partners of the Zimbabwe
venture where the economics and delivering on our brand
are important motivators. Tourism Authority in
Nigeria and Ghana and
We put together some capital and after a fortunate was invited to participate
meeting with Biola Kasim a Partner at the Elev8 Brand
at the United Nations
communications company in Lagos we were in business.
World Tourism
His team helped us develop the brand and in a few weeks
we had a website and marketing flyers. We also began
Organization (UNWTO)
placing classified adverts in popular dailies and gradually Think Tank during the 2009
“ajala” began to spread by word of mouth. World Tourism day
Celebrations in October of
These first few months were exciting and stressful. For the
2009.”
rest of the year Gbenga and I worked on Ajala and planned
tours for Nigerian travellers to Cross River, Ghana, Egypt,
Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Brazil, South Africa and Tanzania. While
working on this I continued to travel working as a Sports
Physician and Gbenga started his own consulting practice,
but all the while, “ajala” was growing. By November 2009,
a year and a half after their first tour organized for 7
friends to Egypt, we had recorded 3000 customer inquiries
and 4 million naira in sales. Ajala was also appointed as
the Tourism promotion partners of the Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority in Nigeria and Ghana and was invited to
participate at the United Nations World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO) Think Tank during the 2009 World
Tourism day Celebrations n October of 2009.
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create a private limited liability company that would
complete research and development of our “package tour
products” and begin initial marketing of the Ajala brand.
The Ajala Travel Company will own, operate and manage
two “Ajala Travel Shops” (our prototype “ajala” travel
retail outlets) and develop a franchise scheme to launch in
every major market in the West African region in 5 years.
I am also seeking joint venture alliances with the Pay-tv
industry in Africa to create a premium cable channel
featuring travel and tourism related shows and
documentaries with an African twist.
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The Vision and how we will achieve it
Ajala is in me. It is the spirit I have sought to posses in my
travels around Africa and the world. The spirit of naive
confidence that makes a man travel around the world
presumably on foot. A spirit that ignores the status quo
and seeks to achieve its potential even if its sole purpose
is wondering the earth. For me the spirit of Ajala is the
spirit of the alchemist. The desire to find that dream that
is inside you, your sole purpose in life.
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most recognized brand helping Nigerians travel all over
the world.
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The Progress we have made so Far
Timeline: The Ajala Travel Company
2010
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employee of Tata Consulting Services India
recruited to join management Team as Chief
Operating Officer. We also began a search for a
Talented Board of Directors, Solicitors,
Accountants, Financial Advisors and Management
team to help achieve our goal of establishing the
Ajala Travel Company in Nigeria and raising 50
million Naira in seed funding.
2009
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Professional of the Year along with Nigerian Beijing
Olympic Silver Medallist Yagazie Chukwumerigie
and MTV Africa Music Awards winner Dbanj. He
was invited this year to meetings with the World
Bank Vice President for Africa: Mrs Obiangeli
Ezekweseli, Prof Patrick Utomi of the Lagos
Business School and Mr Bob Dewar the British High
Commissioner to Nigeria in recognition of his
award winning professional career.
2008
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desktop publishing program. Our first Web site
www.aja.la (ajala.com was taken) was designed
and launched in March 2008 featuring only
information on our tours to Egypt.
Our Challenges
There have been many challenges on this journey to “raise
ajala”. The most vivid memory was receiving a call from
one of our clients in Dubai complaining that the hotel had
just locked her out of her hotel room because we failed to
confirm bookings for the last night of her stay. She
threatened to sue us for putting her through such distress.
I remember having a conversation with Gbenga later that
night. We were sure this was not what we had planned for
in building this company. Fortunately the mistake was
corrected by a miracle from our trade partners in Dubai.
We wrote her an apology letter and I visited her at home
personally to tender a proper apology. It is amazing what
an honest apology can do. I’m not sure she will travel with
us again in the near future but we made her a promise to
make sure we fixed the problems by putting in place a
comprehensive plan in place to provide a better service
for our customers, more tools and resources for our team
and improved procedures for handling operational
difficulties in the future.
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a life of its own and I grew more confident of the market
need of our brand.
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Ajala Brand live this parallel life? Truth is the Ajala Brand
can continue for the next year and trade as a tourism
company and accumulate dead capital (aka goodwill) and
not produce value beyond its natural state. The question
then is how will we convert the Ajala Brand as an
intellectual asset to generate capital?
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What we at The Ajala Travel Company take from this is
that our Capital i.e. “our value” is not our accumulated
stock of assets but the potential we hold to deploy new
production. This potential is of course abstract. It must be
processed and fixed into a tangible form before we can
release it – just like the potential nuclear energy in
Einstein’s brick. I summary I quote Hernando De Soto.
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to
go through this letter. In conclusion I will share with you
our work plan over the next 2 years and will continue to
keep you updated on our progress as we achieve our
preset milestones. Thank you again and have a great year
ahead.
Dayo Osholowu
Co-founder The Ajala Travel Company
25th January 2010
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Ajala’s 2 year work plan (2010 – 2011)
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