… we’ll be doing things differently to achieve a purpose – GMD

Finchglow Holdings has announced an expansion of its subsidiaries and plan to pursue 2025 with vigour under the theme ‘Paradigm Shift.’
Group Managing Director of the Holdings, Mr. Bankole Bernard, speaking at a press conference held on Thursday, at the Lagos Aviation Academy (LAA) complex, one of the subsidiaries of the Group, said the theme was informed by Finchglow’s idea of doing things differently in order to achieve a purpose, not because others are doing them.
“We don’t just do things because others are doing it but because we want to achieve a purpose. We as an organisation are going to be making a lot of changes on the way things are done. That is what paradigm shift is all about; doing things differently from the way it used to be,” he said.
Highlighting on the achievements of last year, Bernard said the Academy had students from other countries coming for training and the cabin crew training expanded from 25 to 50 students under the approval of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), after its inspection of the facility.
According to him, the approval for expansion came as a result of the bar raise in the quality of the training offered by the Institute, adding that the new facility housing the school which was launched in the outgone year is a milestone.
He announced that the Institution at every point in time has over 100 students, with the attraction of students from the United Kingdom, Ghana and Cameroon.
Due to the improvement of standards at LAA, Bernard noted that the NCAA increased the number of their cabin crew trainees from 25 to 50 after inspection of their facilities during the accreditation process.
“We had students from other countries coming to train with our Academy. We always have stopovers to the next set. Let people know quality way to do things,” he said.
Also part of the expansion, Bernard said, is the increase in leadership team with the coming on board of Mr. Olugbenga Onitilo, as the Managing Director for Finchglow TravelDen, who will be making a lot of changes in this online subsidiary of the Holdings.
Corroborating Bernard on the expansion achieved in the Academy, the Head of School & Training, LAA, Mr. Bolaji Durojaiye, informed that the school has added both Embraer and CRJ aircraft type for the cabin crew training in addition to the Boeing, which they had.
Speaking, Onitilo noted that Finchglow trajectory kept growing having diversified into several parts of the ecosystem.
He podited that Finchglow has strength in corporate travels playing now the third arm of the ecosystem, which is OTA– Online Travel Agency.
According to him, this year, this arm of Finchglow Holdings will scale up business running a hybrid Travel Agency; online but showing up at certain parts of the nation, as he noted that some key cities in the south-east and south-south are yet untapped.
Onitilo assured that the Company is going to invest a lot in customer service expansion in the form of secondary markets.
He said: “We’ll have footprints in key markets to compliment the growth we have this year. We’ll also play in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“Within our Travel Den we’ll create an affiliate empower system where people sell products to become reasonable people in the society and which in turn scales up our business.
“We’re creating a disruption in the market; we’ll show excellence, our brand will be bold. We’ll privatise customer service.”
Throwing more light on Finchglow’s CSR plans for 2025, the Managing Director of FCM Nigeria, another subsidiary, Adejoju Olutimayin, said: the arm carried out a couple of CSR in the past, feeding motherless babies in Lekki.
She said FCM will this year expand its activities in CSR, especially with its new contract secured from the Shell Petroleum Development Company.
“This year, our focus will be on feeding the less privileged. We will try to feed as many children as possible,” she said.
On her part, the Public Relations Manager of the Group, Mrs. Temilade Adu, highlighted the activities of the year disclosing that the Group intends to make the Live Edition of Finchglow Partner Plus Connect a quarterly affair, with a goal of making it the leading Online Travel Agency.
She recalled that the Live Edition of Partner Connect held in Abuja in 2024 with over 140 trade partners in attendance, and is expected to increase this year.
Adu added that there would be a practice of CSR to feed people in vulnerable places as a way of fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of kicking out hunger.
In his vote of thanks at the interactive meeting, the Managing Director of Finchglow Travels, Mr. Ezekiel Ikotun, simply said that the growth this year for all the subsidiaries will be humongous.