Close-up With Olayanju Joseph

Brief Introduction

My name is Oluwafemi Joseph Olayanju, popularly called Ace. I am a recent graduate of LAUTECH. I studied Nursing sciences. I own Ace prints and design.

Ace prints and design is a one stop Nigerian promotional printing company currently operating in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. We manufacture and print T-shirts, Polo shirts, Caps, bags, badges and many other promotional items and corporate gifts. Brand Identity designs are achieved with transfers, embroidery(monogramming), screen printing, engraving, flock/flex prints and many more.

I started my business while I was on campus. I started after we resumed from COVID break, 2021. Everything this brand was surmounted to was as a result of what happened in 2020 during covid. It was the Covid 19 pandemic period that I learned design, branding/customising and printing.

After we resumed, I started informing my friends about what I learnt. From which I started designing and making frames for them. I remembered charging as low as 1k for logos then and making frames for a very very low price because I didn’t know what price to fix for my services. Much more, being that I just started I am mainly enthusiastic about getting people to be aware of what I do

What has been your greatest motivation so far for the things you do?

My greatest motivation is to outdo and exceed all already existent and future contemporaries with my ability, dedication and commitment to top quality, world class provision of branding and printing services. Also, I want to build a personal brand that stands out amidst my peers

What are the milestones you encountered in your journey on campus?

In recent times, this brand has been able to support social programs and conferences like; LinkedIn Local Ogbomoso, The Arising Conference, The Confluence, Sigma Workshop and others, that are meant to invest into the future of students on campus. This has also made the brand stay relevant and vital to growth and investment into student lives while on campus. In coherence, increased profits with reduced operational costs through owning machinery that helps to increase profits.

Though we are yet to get to our destination, we have been able to work with smaller brands and startups helping them to breakthrough through brand awareness, and we have worked for companies and organizations through referrals. I can safely say, my academic journey was a smooth ride.

What are the challenges you faced?

When I started this brand, in order to provide quality and give best pricing. I would work and do most of my printings in Ilorin which makes me travel a lot. Another factor is that it is very difficult to satisfy students and you just have to be very close to perfection in delivering services and keep communication intact.

Unstable power supply is a major challenge because all our work requires power and it eats up operation cost because we sometimes need to fuel up to work and meet up with deadlines.

Similarly, most of our services are processed with machines and machineries, mistakes and errors are inevitable and it sometimes may take more time to deliver or you may even need to reprint if the expectations are not met.

How were you able to balance academics with your business on campus?

This is where GOD comes in. For every Nursing student in my set, we all know no one can do this nursing thing without a supernatural factor with it.

Balancing Academics with business was only God’s grace. God gave me peace and strength to carry on ️ and for once I never had to rethink my choice of doing business while in school.

I also reckon that I can multitask and I always love to be on the go. So most times when I come back from Ilorin in the evening, I will still be able to go for night readings. All these never affected my academic performance for any semester.

Now that you’ve graduated, what next?

My entrepreneurial journey continues and definitely expands. While I continue Internship and NYSC.

Will you be staying back in Ogbomoso?

No, but I will be in proximity. I will be in Ilorin or Ibadan.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

In five years, I want to have a brand that is known for what it truly stands for - quality and affordability. Career wise, I want to use my career to leverage on building my business.

I want to grow, not blow. I want to build so I can tell my story to the world. I want to write my brand name in the book of history. In five years time, the road should be more clearer.

Any random thing you'd like to share with the student populace?

Smart work pays. You don’t have to go hard on yourself to be an awesome student, you just have to be smart at it. While on campus, I will advise all students to have a skill at hand which will make them financially dependent and while at it. They should trust the growth process. Don’t giraffe, wait for it and work for it. It will surely come.