Oluwafolajimi Akinsiku

I am OLUWAFOLAJIMI OLUWASIJIBOMI AKINSIKU; I am currently enrolled in the Tourism Administration graduate program at George Washington University, my major is Sustainable Tourism Management.

I am a recipient of the Global Initiatives Fellowship award by merit for the 2020/2021 academic session, based on my undergraduate degree in urban and regional planning (URP) at Yaba College of Technology with a GPA of 3.26, where I was a privilege to serve as the President of my student departmental association (i.e. National Association of Urban and Regional Planning Students NAURPS).
As the leader of the student body, I discovered myself while helping other students in the department with their pursuits in the town planning profession and their personal goals post-graduation; through various organized talkshops, workshops, networking events, and one-one encounters with students.

During my graduation year, I discovered my passion for tourism as a tool for heritage preservation in the rural sector of developing regions and it can serve also as a means to end poverty, hunger, and create a viable rural economic ecosystem. This curiosity towards the potential of sustainable tourism development as a tool for development in terms of existing resources, cultural heritage, and sustainable management, and a healthy community, has built up my interest in the tourism sector. I have since then engaged in the tourism industry volunteering as a self-taught travel guide and later launched a start-up travel guiding brand, designing local tours, and creating memorable experiences across Nigeria, West Africa.

I am passionate about rural development; sustainable management of local resources, heritage and culture preservation, sustainable living, resource and infrastructure planning, administration, and the functionality of the ecosystem towards economic development; my goal is to use tourism as a tool through advocacy, adequate planning, and efficient use of resources and sustainable best practices leveraging on the UN’s set of 17 SDGs to achieve economic development in the rural economy.

I am currently in my second year of study, currently seeking an internship, but also working on my innovative virtual tourism idea to help the tourism community earn fairly in rural tourism communities and as well as join to combat global poverty. I look forward to furthering my career in the sustainable management, and development sector leveraging sustainable tourism, urban and regional planning, and development consulting as my expertise to make an impact on sustainable human settlement and economic development.