Bernard: My journey into the travel business world

Bankole Bernard, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Finchglow Holdings is an unassuming personality and one who ventured into the travel industry to not only change the narrative but to leave a lasting legacy for generations unborn.

Bernard was so passionate about the aviation and travel sector that he left a lucrative banking job to take a plunge into an unfamiliar terrain which has seen his little beginning transform into a conglomerate of monumental proportions.

He has always said that he ventured into the travel industry to create and sustain standards in the business.

Looking back, Bernard could beat his chest to say he ranks amongst the top ten travel operators in Nigeria going by his chains of businesses that keeps producing more other businesses for the former President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA).

Bernard who is also the President of the Association of Aviation Training Organisation of Nigeria (AATON) told journalists in Lagos over the weekend that the subsidiaries of Finchglow Holdings, have continued to deliver to the aviation travel industries topnotch products that have created a niche for themselves in their various fields.

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Also with him for the press briefing were Bolaji Durojaiye; Head of School, Lagos Aviation Academy, Achimba Juayibim-Enakele; Head of Business, Finchglow Holidays, Babatunde Adenekan; Head Of Business, Finch Global, Ezekiel Ikotun; Managing Director, Finchglow Travels, Adejoju Sikuade; Managing Director, FCM Nigeria, Temidayo Isabemueh; Managing Director, Head Of Operations, TravelDen.

According to him, the company that commenced as a travel agency, Finchglow Travels Limited in 2006, has metamorphosed into six subsidiaries, offering different levels of services to numerous clients for different purposes with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) certifications.

Some of the subsidiaries of the company 18 years later are Finchglow Travels, FCM Travel Solutions, Travel Den, Finchglow Holidays, Finchglobal, and Lagos Aviation Academy.

For instance, he explained that the Lagos Aviation Academy (LAA), which came into existence in 2017, barely seven years ago had trained about 2,400 students for the aviation industry, not just in Nigeria, but outside the country.

Also, he explained that Finchglow Travels with 18 years’ experience is a travel consolidator, offering top-notch travel solutions to organisations and individuals through the use of cutting-edge technology, adding that FCM Travel Solutions Nigeria is a franchise of FCM Global with a presence in over 100 countries, offering corporate travel company dedicated to helping businesses transform the way they travel across the globe.

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Besides, he mentioned Traveden as an online travel agency with a focus on making travel accessible to everyone by providing affordable flight tickets, hotel bookings, reservations and insurance services to travellers.

According to him, Finchglow Holidays is a premium destination management company, which provides management and consultation services for domestic, and international tourism, group travels and others, while Finchglobal is a cargo operator that provides safe, reliable, and efficient air cargo services, within and outside Nigeria.

He said: “Basically, this vision came when I visited the office of IATA in Madrid, Spain and I had a meeting with their then Vice President and they told me that in the whole of Nigeria, they had less than 10 Approved Training Organisations (ATOs) and I wondered why we could have less than 10 approved ATOs in an environment where we have more than 200 million people.

“So, I decided to return to Nigeria to start an aviation school and to the glory of God, we started from Toyin Street at Ikeja, but we realised that the reason a lot of people will not invest in that area is because it is highly regulated with a lot of restrictions. I feel if that is the case, there are lots of opportunities for those who are willing to do things right.

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“But, this idea of coming into the aviation industry, started in 2002; I was a banker and I quit the job in 2003. In 2002, I wanted to go into the aviation industry to float an airline, but I realised that floating an airline is capital intensive and I didn’t have such capital. However, it’s always good to start at the rock bottom; nobody climbs the ladder from the top.”

On one year in office of President Bola Tinubu, he said that the government had only spent a year to learn the ropes in the sector, hoping that the next three years would bring the needed development and growth.

Wole Shadare