How Nigerian Elizabeth Agboola is breaking down barriers in travel

Nigerians Travel Too, a premier travel agency in Nigeria, is breaking down barriers preventing Nigerians from traveling and becoming global citizens.

Having travelled to over 50 countries across every habitable continent, the agency’s founder, Elizabeth Agboola, has a deep awareness of how travel can positively impact one’s life. So, to help create avenues for her clients to travel, she has cultivated relationships with a variety of global institutions, including the World Travel Market.

But, this travel agency is doing more than just promoting travel for Nigerians. Elizabeth also showcases all of Africa as viable, inspiring and life-changing destinations. According to her, visiting the continent allows the African diaspora to connect with the motherland.

To top it off, she’s also doing big things to connect the Caribbean and Africa.

In 2020, she launched NaiJamaica, which provides direct flights and special trips between Lagos, Nigeria and Montego Bay, Jamaica, as well as between Jamaica and Ghana. Despite its obvious ancestral connection, this is the first direct travel connection between Africa and the Caribbean.

We caught up with Elizabeth to find out more about her already successful, but still growing, for-us-by-us agency.

We see you launched Nigerians Travel Too in 2016, first as a travel inspiration page on Instagram. What gave you the confidence to step out and become a full travel agency, and how has your entrepreneurial journey been so far?

Elizabeth: My love for travel and planning travel for my friends inspired me to open a page on Instagram. I just wanted to showcase my trips, and fellow Nigerians taking trips, to inspire others.

I started getting bombarded with enquiries about how to get to the destinations I was visiting, and I knew I had to get paid for my time. So, I started charging a little fee for planning.

By doing this I found myself constantly solving problems and breaking my clients’ travel barriers – from childcare (I created day trips within Europe), to the need for peer-to- peer travel (I created trips for people over 50).

What propelled me into the Nigerian market was breaking travel barriers of visas by providing active representation for my clients with diplomatic missions.

The journey hasn’t been easy, but it has been interesting.

If we’re not mistaken, in 2020 you launched NaiJamaica, a project that offers the 1st direct flight from Nigeria to Jamaica. Explain the cultural and economic significance of this project… Why was this move so monumental and important?

Elizabeth: I launched this project in partnership with the Jamaican High Commission in Nigeria. I drove the dream to connect the Motherland to its branches after nearly 400 years. The ultimate significance for me is knowing the possibilities are endless.

What do you see for the future of the Caribbean and Africa connection?

Elizabeth: The future of the connection lies in flight connectivity.

There is so much room for cultural exchange via movies, music, arts and craft. There are so many business possibilities for trade of products and services between Africa and the Caribbean.

And most importantly, there’s room to grow a true sense of relationship and siblinghood between the two.

What’s next for Nigerians Travel Too?

Elizabeth: Nigerians Travel Too will continue to do what it does best – marketing of new destinations and bringing them to the doors of Nigerians. We’re launching our 2022 calendar which we’re excited about as it covers the seven continents. We’re five years old this year, and we most recently launched our third office branch in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.