We had a conversation with Lisa Sebogodi, the founder and director of Batsumi Travel. Established in 2010, Batsumi Travel specialises in corporate travel, shuttle services, and MICE. With over 24 years of experience in the travel industry, Lisa’s leadership has earned Batsumi multiple awards, including Best Full-Service Corporate & Leisure Travel Company in 2024. Lisa is dedicated to continuous learning and uplifting South African youth through initiatives like the Batsumi Travel Township Tourism Development, which empowers high school students with practical tourism skills.
What inspired you to start Batsumi Travel, and what drives your passion for the industry?
My love for travelling is what inspired me to start Batsumi Travel back in 2010. Traveling the world to experience its richness, meeting interesting and diverse people and connecting with them has always been a passion of mine. With over 24 years’ experience in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality industry, I strive to make travelling pleasurable and painless, whether it’s those last-minute reservations and changes in bookings, or detailed dream destination vacations, corporate events, making sure that my customers are happy and stress free.
Can you share some challenges you faced as a female entrepreneur in the travel industry, and how you overcame them?
Entrepreneurship is challenging, I never focused on pains of being a female building my empire, but on steadily growing the business and seeing how I can contribute to a society that has one of the highest youth unemployment rates. I truly believe in inspiring young people who look like me and dare to pursue their dreams. It was always important for me to remain focussed and resilient in order to succeed.
How do you stay ahead of the curve in the ever-changing travel landscape?
One needs to constantly keep abreast of current developments through networking events and being a member of industry associations to continue learning industry standards and best practices. It’s also important to adapt; technology continues to grow and disrupt, and this affects how business is conducted. Travel has also changed, and what used to be relevant before Covid may not be today. You can never stop learning; I have been on a continuous learning journey since the inception of my company, to make sure that I scale up and remain relevant.
What sets Batsumi Travel apart from other travel agencies, and what’s your secret to exceptional service?
Batsumi Travel offers a bespoke, boutique service to discerning travellers. We aim to differentiate our product offering from the competition through providing our expertise in curating exciting and innovative itineraries and developing a deep understanding of our clients’ travel needs. I think what separates Batsumi Travel is that we ensure our services can be tailored to meet clients’ needs.
How do you balance your professional and personal life, and what self-care practices do you prioritise?
Throughout my journey of entrepreneurship, I have learned that giving the body rest is key. I have learned that I need to take time to destress and prioritise myself in order to give clients and stakeholders the best version of myself. To help achieve this, I afford myself enough time for sleep in order to meet demands of work pressure, while ensuring that I eat well and get enough exercise to keep fit.
What advice would you give to young women aspiring to enter the travel industry or start their own business?
Start by learning the mechanisms of entrepreneurship whilst on the job. This means working in the business with the goal to end up working on the business. I have embraced this opportunity as well as applied myself to the learnings, pushed and challenged myself to the limit. It’s also important to understand that business is about taking calculated risks. The travel industry is very cutthroat, and practicing discipline in your actions and behaviours is also key. Lastly, never settle for second best.
Can you tell us more about the Batsumi Travel Township Tourism Development initiative, and its impact on the community?
The Batsumi Travel Township Tourism Development Programme (BTTTD) aims to fill the skills gap of students who are studying tourism in high schools by equipping them with in-depth knowledge in addition to the knowledge covered in the school’s syllabus, emphasising the practical aspect of their learnings. This creates empowering opportunities for furthering their studies and securing employment.
Not only does this project uplift the participants, but it also has a ripple effect on their families and the community, and boosts capabilities in emerging and under-resourced communities to contribute to the GDP of South Africa. This is very close to my heart.
I also offer internship programs to students seeking work experience which I believe is rooted in the premise, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. This project is designed to equip learners with an incredible foundation of knowledge in tourism, which will provide them with the opportunity to create employment and be employed. This initiative creates sustainable growth in the Travel and Tourism industry, and the hope is to bring tourism to the townships and create sustainable jobs.
How do you measure success, and what achievements are you most proud of?
There are many factors that contribute to the notion of success. As an emerging business, it is not easy to compete alongside the big players in this industry who have established systems in place and financial muscle. My approach to this, among other things, is to hire for attitude over skill as I believe that goes a long way for the sustainability of the business.
I also believe success is measured by the impact you have on others. I gave up my comfortable salary in 2010 when the company was established and have since created salaries for over 30 other people. I am a true young entrepreneur, an inspiration to the youth and woman of South Africa and the world. Acquiring an IATA (International Air Transport Association) accreditation was the biggest accomplishment in 2014 which relates the success of Batsumi. We also got nominated for few awards to date and that goes to show our dedication and commitment.
I consider the acquisition of the many educational qualifications over the past few years another marker of success. I have graduated through various institutions that offered entrepreneurial programmes in South Africa and abroad:
- 2015 Raizcorp
- 2016 WITS Business School
- 2017 Aurik
- 2018 GIBS (international module through University of Las Vegas)
- 2022 SUNY (State University at Albany New York and Americas Business School)
- 2023 Aston University Birmingham
What role do you think mentorship plays in empowering women in business, and have you had any mentors throughout your career?
Women’s empowerment and achieving gender equality is essential for our society to ensure the sustainable development of the country, and mentorship is key in this regard. I have many mentors, but I am most proud of my role as a mentor. I mentored Motheo Modisane (Black Woman Owner of Luzuko Hospitality Solutions) with the goal of empowering her and her business. Mentoring sessions took place bi-monthly with all key stakeholders within her business.
What’s next for Batsumi Travel, and what exciting projects or initiatives can we expect in the future?
Customer centricity is key for Batsumi Travel, which is why we have now launched our exciting concierge service, focused on high end packages for inbound and outbound travel. We continue our focus on MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) services, also referred to as Business Tourism or Business Events, which represents a lucrative part of the tourism mix across the globe and in which we have over a decade of experience in. Diversification is a major priority, and we continue to pivot and embrace change in our ever-evolving industry to remain relevant and ensure our clients continue to receive the top-tier service they have grown accustomed to.