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A trailblazer and multidisciplinary artist, Ajao Ganiu Olaitan aka Olaitan Ganiu is making leaps in the media industry. With a career spanning over a decade and a half working in the various newsrooms, he has developed himself to become a personality to be reckoned with.
One of the most fascinating things about Olaitan is his great multitasking ability to work as a creative designer, reporter, and fashion entrepreneur.
He is making history for being the first-ever Nigerian to win the first international iDiaspora Photo Contest. The contest was co-organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM-UN) and the IBER-RUTAS Program as a way to contribute to the promotion of cultural diversity for the protection of migrants’ rights from an intercultural perspective.
Olaitan emerged as the 3rd Prize Winner in the Professional Category of the global competition with her body of work entitled, ‘We Play too Much but Never Forget our Roots’ series. Other amateurs and professionals who won the contest include nationals from Colombia, Peru, Ivory Coast, Armenia, and Venezuela.
His salient portraits explore humanitarian subject matters of an informal settlement community in Makoko, Lagos-Nigeria. The documentary photographs have since been published on the iDiaspora website as well as the IBER-RUTAS program website respectively.
“Being selected by a professional jury panel gives me a boost but being recognised by international organisations gives me huge credibility and confidence to believe in myself, my idea and creativity. I mean, winning the prestigious award was a significant event for me this year – I feel honoured, validated and appreciated,” he expressed.
Olaitan is on the track to subvert the often reductive understandings of mere graphic artists by exhibiting his range of intelligence and talents. Over the years, he has continued to prove that he possessed extraordinary skills which enabled him to turn from a page planner to an award-winning photographer.
“In this ever-changing workforce, I want to continue learning new skills to remain relevant for corporate/public benefits,” he paused before delving into his photography inspiration. “I just felt that my Smartphone camera could give voice to the voiceless people, or effect social changes. So, I started going out on streets to shoot news-making pictures and tagged relevant government agencies on my social media pages with short captions,” he explained.
When asked where he can be categorized, the resourceful individual said he cannot be exclusively placed in a singular box when he said, “I know there is always a box folks want to put creative minds. In fact, I’ve been criticised many times that I had to fit into a particular box to be successful in life but I refused to put myself into their box.” Olaitan added that: “As my career grows, I want to continue breaking world records, not just for myself, but for Africa.”
The prolific artist, who is the founder of Media Creative Minds of Nigeria (MCMN), urged emerging artists to always diversify their crafts, encouraging them to think big and innovate dauntlessly.
“As an artist, I’ve been able to make some extra money on the internet by simply using the initials of my name ‘OG’ to create a brand identity. I later registered the brand name to set-up clothing line where we offer branding of T-shirt to clients. Unlike before when the art market can be a daunting place, artists can easily sell their artworks on social media with just a few clicks,” the CEO of ‘OG Collections & Signature’ said.
From being a graphic artist in the newsroom of the defunct National Mirror in 2006, Olaitan has moved on to work in many media organizations including The Sun Newspaper, Cool FM and joined The Nation Newspaper in 2008 where his currently working.
The graduate of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management (IRPM) at Lagos State University (LASU) has attended several media trainings including National Broadcast Academy (NBA), where he learned ‘Basic Presentation ’, the Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) program to learn ‘Basics of reporting HIV’, MEDRIVE to study the ‘The sensitive and conflict reporting’, the Lagos International Poetry Festival (LIPF) writing master-class, Music/Entertainment Business Class organised by Universal Music Group and others.
He is a member of the Young African Leaders Initiative (Y.A.L.I), Tony Elumelu Foundation, Co-Creation Hub, Recall For Men, Naija Graphic Designers among other foundations.
