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‘We are committed to being first to offer game-changing travel solutions’

By Eniola Daniel
23 November 2019   |   4:10 am
Rejuvenated Hybrid Travel Agency (HTA), Wakanow, has promised to focus on customer satisfaction, innovation, expansion, more pleasurable travel experiences and financial stewardship as it expands its touch point 250.

Chief Commercial Officer, Ladi Ojuri (left); Head, Corporate Business, Uche Onyemobi; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Adebayo Adedeji; Chief Technology Officer Oyedeji Ojo and Chief Financial Officer, Odun Ayo Odunlami, at a media interactive session in Lagos.

Rejuvenated Hybrid Travel Agency (HTA), Wakanow, has promised to focus on customer satisfaction, innovation, expansion, more pleasurable travel experiences and financial stewardship as it expands its touch point 250.

The Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Adebayo Adedeji, disclosed this during his inaugural media interactive session at the corporate head office of the company in Lekki, Lagos.

Wakanow is West Africa’s leading, full HTA company, with offices in Nigeria, Dubai, Ghana, Kenya, as well as in the United Kingdom.

Speaking to journalists, Adedeji said, “Our number one goal is to ensure that our customers not only get the best value-adding travel products and services but also that their experience is the best it can be, from the moment of first contact, online or offline. This includes a smooth booking process, reliable turnaround times, and a quality that exceeds customer’s expectations. We realise we may not meet that goal 100 per cent of the time, but we won’t stop improving until we do.”

While reaffirming Wakanow’s position as Nigeria’s No 1 online travel agency, Adedeji stated that the company’s strength lies in its innovative travel solutions.

“From Pay-Small-Small, which is an instalment payment plan for travel products and our value-adding ancillary products launched within the last few months, which include automated flight reminders, airline liquidation insurance, lost baggage insurance, seat selection, airport protocol services and so much more.”

On his position, he informed that the company was able to woo him to move back to Nigeria and be part of a forward-thinking organisation.

“When I joined the Wakanow, we were able to move the company forward in the vision that the founders are built. And I joined to move the company forward. There are three cardinal things that we think about; number one is the customer. We start out by thinking about our customers from the beginning to the very end. How do we satisfy our customers’ needs and how do we give them value? Number two is on how do we innovate on behalf customers? One of the things Wakanow has done is to innovation and driving innovation around how we do things.”

Another key focus area for the organization, according to Adedeji, is operation and expansion.

“We have been able to form alliances with our partners across the market to be able to do a lot more innovation. And as we innovate, and as we expand, we are using the strategic partnerships to reduce our costs and to expand. The third part of our focus is taking care of our people internally because they are also our customers. At the heart of our market leadership is innovation and more than ever before, we are committed to being first to market with game-changing travel solutions,” he added.

He assured that the organisation is committed to expanding its customer touch points both online and offline in order to bring travel closer to the people.

“To this end, we are proud to announce partnerships with key strategic institutions with the requisite spread and network, both online and offline. With these partnerships, we are able to serve even more customers across the globe.”

It would be recalled that Wakanow launched a WhatsApp self-service channel recently. Through this first-of-its-kind innovation in the travel industry, staffs of the company are able to connect with customers on their phones right where they are.
Customers are now able to book their flights via Wakanow’s responsive WhatsApp chat bot. they are also able to have real-time conversations with a travel consultant via WhatsApp.

Thanking the board of directors for their demonstrated faith in his leadership, Adedeji said, “I would like to use this opportunity to restate that we are committed to serving a growing, satisfied, multi-demographic customer base by consistently and reliably providing unique, affordable, and pleasurable travel experiences backed with world-class customer support.”

He continued: “I’m excited to join the company now and to continue the vision of the founders and to take it to the next level and continue to expand that vision. I’m excited about the team that we’ve built; a very diverse team with multiple ethnicity and gender balance.”

On how secure the platform is, he said, “When we see anything abnormal, we immediately call it out and go after it. Our fraud level is at 0.02 per cent, which is amazing for a traveling agency. We were able to achieve that because we are able to tackle the problem through check and balancing. We got $40 million investment and what we do since that investment was to hire a team of people that can lead the company, and with that, we were able to turn the company around and go fast.”

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