Faith Oloruntoba is an entrepreneur and innovator whose work sits at the intersection of travel, technology, and community impact. She is the founder of Ivory Luxe Journeys, a luxury travel consultancy curating transformative group and corporate experiences, and Groupbuyhive, a technology platform designed to empower independent retailers and communities through smarter, data-driven coordination. Across her ventures, Faith blends empathy with systems thinking, building businesses that are both commercially viable and socially meaningful.
Over the years, her work has earned recognition across business, technology, and leadership spaces. She has received innovation awards from industry bodies, secured highly competitive entrepreneurship grants, and seen her ventures recognised within elite accelerator ecosystems. Yet, for Faith, recognition has never been the goal — it has been a by-product of building with intention.
Building a Career Where Travel and Technology Converge
“For me, travel and technology were never separate,” Faith explains. “They were always two halves of the same vision.”
Her entrepreneurial journey began with Ivory Luxe Journeys, where she curated luxury group trips and corporate retreats for women, executives, and organisations across multiple continents. Planning over a thousand trips gave her deep insight into the emotional power of travel — the confidence it builds, the clarity it brings, and the way shared experiences can transform how people see themselves.
But she also saw the hidden strain behind the scenes: endless WhatsApp threads, fragmented payments, miscommunication, and the mental load often carried by one organiser — usually a woman. Planning travel was joyful, but it was also inefficient, manual, and stressful.
At the same time, Faith was building Groupbuyhive, a platform born from observing similar inefficiencies in supply chains and procurement. Independent retailers struggled with access, leverage, and systems. Through data, predictive analytics, and well-designed coordination tools, Groupbuyhive helped simplify complexity and improve outcomes.
“I realised the same problems existed in both worlds,” she says. “Too much dependence on one person, too many disconnected tools, and enormous opportunities for innovation if you build the right systems.”
That realisation shaped her long-term vision: to build technology that supports human experiences — not replaces them — and to empower people, especially women, with tools that reduce friction and unlock freedom.
Building With Empathy and Discipline
Faith describes her leadership philosophy as a balance between empathy and discipline.
Travel taught her empathy. Planning hundreds of trips brought her close to human behaviour — fear, excitement, trust, decision-making under pressure. “You learn very quickly that leadership starts with listening,” she says. “Really listening.”
Technology taught her discipline. Building Groupbuyhive required operational rigor: working with suppliers, logistics teams, data models, and systems that had to perform consistently. “Vision without execution is just imagination,” she notes. “You need structure, data, and accountability.”
This duality has defined her leadership style: people-first, but systems-driven; creative, but analytical. It’s an approach that has earned confidence from investors, partners, and institutions alike.
In 2024, Groupbuyhive won the People’s Choice AmplifyHer Pitch Award at the Collision Tech Conference, standing out among hundreds of startups for its clarity and real-world relevance. The company also secured the BAIDS Grant and the Propelling Black Entrepreneurship Grant, supported by TD and the FACE Coalition — both awarded through competitive, merit-based evaluation processes.
“These milestones mattered,” Faith reflects, “because they showed that the work resonated beyond my own conviction.”
Recognition, Resilience, and Representation
In 2025, Faith received the Business Innovation Award from Canada Vendors and the Innovation Excellence Award from the Women in Tech community, recognising her ability to translate complex challenges into scalable, technology-enabled solutions. That same year, Groupbuyhive was named a Top 3 Venture of 2025 within the Black Founders Network at the University of Toronto, one of Canada’s most competitive ecosystems for Black-led innovation.
The Top 3 Venture recognition was judged by investors and innovation experts based on impact, scalability, and leadership. Groupbuyhive stood out for its strong performance, over $500,000 in first-year revenue, thousands of customers served, and tangible operational outcomes.
“For me, that moment was validation,” Faith says. “Not just of the business, but of the years of discipline, sacrifice, and belief.”
As a Nigerian-Canadian founder, Faith’s path has not been without challenges. Navigating funding gaps, representation barriers, and trust in industries dominated by established players required persistence. “Credibility was never automatic,” she explains. “It had to be earned repeatedly.”
Her Nigerian upbringing, she says, taught her resourcefulness — how to innovate through constraints and remain grounded. “That became one of my greatest strengths.”
Leadership Beyond Business
Faith’s commitment to impact extends beyond entrepreneurship. In 2021, she received the Service to Humanity Award from Women of Dignity International for her work in mentorship and community advocacy. In 2025, she was honoured again with the organisation’s Community Leadership Award, recognising sustained leadership and service over time.
To Faith, leadership is inseparable from responsibility. “If growth doesn’t create space for others, it’s incomplete,” she says.
That belief has guided her involvement in accelerator programs, mentorship initiatives, and speaking engagements. She has participated in and served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence across multiple innovation hubs, helping shape emerging founders while refining her own ventures.
Visibility, Voice, and Paying It Forward
For Faith, visibility is not about attention — it’s about influence.
“Visibility opens the door,” she says. “Leadership is what allows you to stay in the room and shape the conversation.”
That philosophy informed her participation as a panellist at a recent Media Visibility Bootcamp, where she spoke on helping young women break confidently into technology and AI. As a founder operating across travel, logistics, and tech, the topic was deeply personal.
“I wanted to demystify the ecosystem,” she explains. “And show women — especially Black and immigrant women — that they belong in high-growth, high-impact spaces.”
Her goal, she says, is always to turn inspiration into practical pathways.
Advice for Women Building Their Influence
Faith’s advice is simple, but hard-earned: start before you feel ready. Speak even when your voice shakes. Build relationships intentionally.
“Your story, your heritage, your lived experience — those are assets,” she says. “Don’t shrink them.”
As she continues to build at the intersection of travel, technology, and systems innovation, Faith Oloruntoba remains guided by a singular belief: that success and meaning must grow together — and that when women are given the tools, systems, and permission to expand, they do far more than succeed. They change what’s possible.
