Funmilayo Makinde is a Nigerian Private Pilot Licence holder, currently undergoing her Instrument Rating (Airplane) in Deland Aviation, Deland, Florida, USA.
Since she was a child she always dreamed of flying the iron bird, she still has goose bumps when she sees an airplane taxi to the active runway and goes full throttle for take off. The clean configuration and climb into the sky always leaves her in awe and for this reason her love for aviation got triggered .
Although she come from a family of pilots, her father and 2 of her siblings (sisters) are Helicopter pilots, she is the first within her nuclear family to endeavour into fixed wings.
Being part of the Aviation family for her is more than the beauty in the uniform or the “so cool” feeling but being part of those who re write history especially with the gender stereotype.
She really aspires to be an agent of change to the industry, especially in her country (Nigeria). Not just being a pilot but being able to grow into managerial roles in terms of governance, polices and regulations.
She holds a BSc degree in Computer Science with a CGPA of 4.0/5.0 from Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria.
Prior to her path in aviation, she had a 2 year cumulative work experience in the FinTech/Technology space.
She had the opportunity to work with renowned Nigerian based companies known for their tremendous impact in Nigeria’s economy.
In 2017, She worked as a Business Development Analyst in a technology company (Softcom, Lagos, Nigeria) and in 2018, she transitioned to a FinTech company (TeamApt, Lagos, Nigeria) as a Governance and Compliance Manger.
Recently, she published a paper titled “Development of Online Clearance System for an Educational Institution” on International Conference on Applied Informatics (ICAI), 2019 which was her final year dissertation in university.
However, she aspires to build her academic career to the level of PhD in a dynamic way combing her love for Aviation and Technology.