“It’s Exciting” CEO Dupe Olusola Speaks As Transcorp Hotels’ Profit Rise By 172%
Dupe Olusola, the Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Hotels Plc, has described as exciting the exceptional performance displayed by the hospitality brand in 2022.
Transcorp Hotels, a subsidiary of Nigerian Conglomerate, Transnational Corporation Plc. (Transcorp Group) posted profit before tax of N4.5bn in the financial year 2022.
The outstanding rise rightly translates to 172% growth when compared to the company’s profit before tax of 1.7 bn in 2021.
The hospitality brand, at its 9th AGM held at iconic Transcorp Hilton Abuja, also reported it grew its revenue by 47% to hit 31.4bn in the same financial year.
Speaking in a recent interview with TVC on the exceptional performance Mrs. Olusola, who revealed the top hotel brand she oversees is currently building a world-class event centre in Abuja and five-star hotels in Ikoyi, Lagos attributed the success giving her so much joy to her ability to think outside the box and having a great team to work with.
How She Feels About The Outstanding Profit
It feels really exciting… We don’t take that for granted, that’s the truth… Coming from the Covid pandemic when we were, on a consistent basis, making losses. We had to look inward, we had to let go of people. So from that point on till this point where we are now not only making profit, we’ve had phenomenal growth in our revenue, 172 percent in our PBT. to where we are … it feels exceptional for me, it feels really rewarding. It feels encouraging. And for my team members as well, it’s the same thing., we are excited about it. Because It’s been a combination of hard work, dedication and consistently thinking outside of the box to constantly challenge ourselves to see what we can do, and how much more value can we add. And also noting that beyond the figure, beyond the fact, it’s also the accomplishment and the experience we are giving to all of our customers and the value we are actually delivering to our shareholders that makes it all worth it… So, it’s a great time for us as a team. Great time, because we are receiving great support from our board. It’s wonderful all round. But definitely not resting on our laurels, we are still challenging ourselves to achieve so much for the next quarter and year beyond.
How She Did It Despite Challenges
One, I have to say I have a great team, without a doubt. It is wonderful when you are leading a team that really gets it and wants to do so much. So what we’ve done is we have remained innovative. Prior to the pandemic, the hotel, hospitality business, generally was very focused on banqueting, conferencing, and business travelers. So, what we had to do was actually… We had to step back, go back to the drawing board, and say how can we actually diversify the segment, how do we diversify the industry and do we make sure we can cater and deliver much more to people beyond business travel or conferences. So we introduced so much in terms of leisure at the hotel. We make sure… We have wonderful assets at the hotel that prior to now we haven’t actually marketed. You know, from our poolside to the tennis court to our clubs and bars… The outlets and the restaurant were constantly having free nights, encouraging people to come… Just last week we opened a spa. So we are very focused on how much more value we can deliver to all of our guests. You know even during the pandemic we had two options, to shut down or just be aggressive… So we had things like a drive-through cinema which was not done before in Nigeria. We are constantly challenging ourselves to just break the barrier, think outside of the box, and do so much more. When you put in so much effort and innovations.. to do things differently and it pays off, it’s really exciting for us.
Tells Shareholders’ Mood Over NI.3bn Dividend Payout
The mood is completely exciting… so, I would talk about my management and my board; they were completely excited about the impact and the result. But beyond that, imagine the shareholders… the shareholders came into the AGM, quite exited actually… but the more we spoke at the AGM, the more we talk about the dividend payout of N1.3bn and the more they understood and the more they saw how the company was actually growing…and the company was also appreciative of all of their efforts and how the company was also rewarding them… It was completely exciting. We move from one shareholder praising to another. It was such an elating mood at the AGM. And everyone definitely goes to their bank account and sees their dividend has hit their account. It’s nice to have that.
Talks About The Biggest Hurdle
I think the key thing is about understanding that it’s a dynamic industry. The hospitality sector is constantly evolving and constantly changing. Consumer preferences are always changing. What one customer wants is different from what another one wants. So for us engaging with our stakeholders is critical and a priority… letting them understand the value that we deliver, letting them understand we will embrace the change and we will always meet them at the point of need, …understand their requirements. Customer experience will continue to be priority for us. And it means at every touch point across the hotel we want them to know we are delivering exceptional service and we are also delivering innovation. That is key for us and that is one of the key things that make us continue to lead the competition. We stay ahead of the pack because we are constantly trying to understand… we are evolving to change and are delivering at the thing and delivering to customer preferences regardless of what they are. So constantly analyzing the sector… whether you are a guest that walks into our hotel for leisure, for business, for event… Whatever it is, we strive to understand what your needs are. Because the man that walks into the hotel with his family his needs are very different from someone that walks in and is there for a business meeting. So we are very attentive and ensuring that we do provide everything that they require. It’s just understanding that we adapt to changing market conditions and adapt to the needs of our guests as well. That continues to help us be on top.
Talks About The Vision & The Big Projects
Great time for us… Two years ago, in 2021 July we launched asset-light strategy. It’s called Aura. Within that time Aura has had a second launch… We went back to feedback and then relaunch our platform as well. Aura is a hospitality platform, which means at your fingertip you can book to stay in any accommodation across 30 states in Nigeria right now. We have got over 5 thousand accommodations on that platform. Be it a combination of hotels, short-let apartments… Whatever you want and whatever your budget is you will find it on Aura platform. And beyond that, we also have experiences, and a lot of discounts as well. So whether you are looking to go out to a restaurant or just even a retreat for yourself in terms of spa, wellness you can go on to the platform and find a diversity of resources that you can pick from. So that in itself is fantastic. We’ve done that and we are so happy about that.
But coming up now… we are looking at launching an event centre in the first quarter of next year. It’s a three thousand five hundred to five thousand capacity event centre, located in Abuja. This one is going to be great because it actually provides so much in terms of facility, in terms of capacity to able to house larger size events compare to what we can do right now. What we have seen increasingly, is that people are traveling from all over the world, from Africa, from the US… to come and have event in Nigeria. So having something like this in Abuja is fantastic because… Then they have their accommodation to stay in the hotel and the event centre is just a walking distance hotel on the hotel premises.
Also coming from us… We are closing ground on our Ikoyi (Lagos State), Glover Hotel. This is going to be a five-star hotel as well. We are tiding up on that, we recently just acquired more land, over 2900 square metres of land. We have expanded the space. The vision has even gotten bigger beyond when we started. We are looking to ensure that not only are we going to be offering best-in-class restaurants and rooms it’s going to be the whole garment of wellness, health, and fitness. And also a walking area within that space. It’s just so much more coming. And we are also constantly looking at how we can expand beyond Nigeria to other areas across Africa. This is one thing that an Aura is going to help achieve in a very quick face as well. It’s a great time ahead, it’s truly a great time for us in the company as a whole.
