Afrinection recently interviewed Elise Francoise Boumtje, founder of TTL agence voyage-langue, or TTL Travel Agency. She discusses launching a sustainable travel agency focused on highlighting investment opportunities in Africa through tourism.

Q. What is the name of your start-up, social enterprise, or innovation?

TTL agence voyage langue

Q. What/who inspired you to set up your start-up, social enterprise, or innovation? 

Ihave traveled frequently across Africa and Europe and on numerous ocassions, I have unfortunately been the victom of scams. This was primarily due to the fact I did not have the correct addresses, the correct value of the local currency, the real price of housing and food etc. This is how my idea came about to organize stays abroad in a manner built upon trust, integrity and high quality customer service. 

Q. In what year did you start your start-up, social enterprise, or innovation?

2019

Q. In which country/countries/regions does your  start-up, social enterprise, or innovation operate?

Nanterre, France

Being headquartered in France has benefits from a legal framework perspective and also has an advantage in terms of identifying and receiving investment funding.

Q. What has been a key lesson learned by you so far?

The key lesson I learned is that you can not develop a business if you do not surround yourself with the right staff, investors and others .... dynamic, ambitious and above all competent people.

In addition, shaping the narrative around my company as one focused on promoting tourism in African countries because in the end, effective focusing on building a travel company highlighting Africa as a strong investment opportunity will encourage more foreign direct investment on the continent. 

Q. Where do you want your start-up, social enterprise, or innovation to be in five years?

Our vision is to build professional training centers with accommodation sites and companies that will feed into our junior graduates program. Therefore, building the TTL group agency travel language to encompass training centers, hotels and businesses across various sectors is where we want to be in 5 years.

Q. What are your 3 key tips for aspiring and budding (social) entrepreneurs?

1) Take the time to mature your project. 2) Build a solid business plan to find investors. 3) Be patient because the way is long before acquiring stability.

Q. Why did you join Afrinection and why should others?

We felt Afrinection was an excellent platform to network and advertise our agency.

Connect with Elise on Afrinection today by visiting her company profile on Afrinection. If you are interested in being interviewed for a future blog plost, please create a free company or individual profile then click on the following link to complete an interview questionnaire: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdn_MPwIlg6cQ6JIqTF2ou8Ha6ey6IFEW-0W96qN3BuPzwnwQ/viewform?usp=sf_link.