From Luxury Travel to Tech Innovation: Faith Oloruntoba's Vision
Faith Oloruntoba stands as a remarkable entrepreneur and innovator who successfully bridges the worlds of travel and technology. As the founder of Ivory Luxe Journeys, she has curated luxury experiences for more than 1,000 clients across the globe. Simultaneously, she established Groupbuyhive, a technology platform that empowers independent grocery retailers through data and predictive analytics.
Her professional journey reflects a unique combination of creativity, strategy, and impact. As a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow and dedicated advocate for women's empowerment, Faith brings together diverse experiences from luxury travel, supply chain technology, and user experience design. She currently serves as Senior UX Content Designer at RBC, where she champions accessible, human-centered technology solutions.
Building Empowering Platforms for Women Travelers
Faith's entrepreneurial path began with Ivory Luxe Journeys, where she organized luxury group trips for hundreds of women and corporate clients. Through this experience, she witnessed both the transformative power of travel and the significant challenges women face during the planning process. She observed endless WhatsApp threads, scattered payments, communication breakdowns, and the disproportionate mental load that typically falls on women organizers.
While building Groupbuyhive, Faith recognized how data analytics and well-designed systems could simplify complex operations for underserved communities. She identified similar patterns in both industries: excessive manual processes, over-reliance on single organizers, non-integrated tools, and hidden stress points. This realization sparked her mission to create Cotriply, a platform where the emotional aspects of travel meet technological intelligence.
'Travel is one of the most transformative tools for women,' Faith emphasizes. 'When a woman steps into a new environment, navigating a foreign city or leading a group trip, she begins to see herself differently. Travel builds confidence because it forces quick decision-making, communication, adaptability, and problem-solving—the same skills leadership requires.'
Navigating Entrepreneurship as a Nigerian-Canadian Innovator
Faith's journey hasn't been without challenges. As a Nigerian-Canadian entrepreneur, she navigates two distinct ecosystems with different expectations and barriers. In Canada, Black immigrant founders remain significantly underrepresented in funding circles and startup networks. She had to repeatedly build credibility and grow her ventures without early safety nets.
In both logistics and travel industries, dominated by established players, trust wasn't automatically granted. With Groupbuyhive, many suppliers preferred working with long-standing companies, forcing Faith to rely on data transparency and consistent performance to earn every partnership. Her Nigerian upbringing, however, provided her with remarkable resourcefulness and the ability to innovate through constraints.
Groupbuyhive achieved remarkable success, generating over $500,000 in revenue during its first year, serving more than 7,000 customers, and delivering 37,000 boxes of produce. This performance earned the venture recognition as one of the Top 3 Ventures of 2025 by the Black Founders Network at the University of Toronto.
Accelerator Programs and Expanding Influence
Faith's participation in Canada's most competitive accelerator programs significantly shaped her entrepreneurial journey. Programs like the Black Founders Network, eCommerce North, and various innovation hubs provided crucial frameworks for building globally competitive companies. She has served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at YSpace, League of Innovators, and CEED, expanding her network of investors and industry experts.
Recently, Faith participated as a panelist at the Media Visibility Bootcamp, where she addressed how young women can confidently break into the tech or AI space. 'Visibility to leadership is about going beyond being seen,' she explains. 'It's about being heard, trusted, and impactful. Visibility opens the door, but leadership is what keeps you in the room and allows you to shape the conversation.'
For women seeking to expand their influence, Faith offers practical advice: 'Start before you feel ready, speak even when your voice shakes, and build relationships intentionally.' She emphasizes that influence grows through consistency, expertise, and visibility, encouraging women to claim space unapologetically in boardrooms, technology, travel, logistics, and entrepreneurship.
Faith concludes with an empowering message: 'Your uniqueness is your advantage. Use your personal story, your heritage, your lived experiences, and your perspective as assets. Most importantly, remember that your voice matters, your ideas matter, and your presence shifts the room.'
