Kolapo Olabintan

Why do you want to study for this MSc?

My motivation for applying for this program surrounds my work as the CEO & Creative Director of dejiandkola.com, one of Nigeria's foremost indigenous bespoke tailoring fashion companies with 4 retail locations ( Lekki & Ikeja Lagos Nigeria, Kent United Kingdom & Calgary Canada.

The company which I co-founded with my brother in 2017 is currently entering the stage where we could actually scale to over 15 retail locations in the next 3-5 years. Fashion to me is changing very fast and it is quite important that we surge ahead as the most capitalized, structured and the brand best set up for growth in the next couple of years.

I believe this course will allow me to forecast and understand upcoming trends, customers behaviours & ability to use our data of over 10,000 contacts to make important & informed decisions which will enable us stay ahead of the fashion business curve.

In areas of product development & marketing insights, our available data can assist with new product designs that resonate with customers & reduce waste and excess inventory as the brand intends to move into RTW in the third quarter of 2025 producing Leather bags, Small Leathers, Shoes & other casual wears.

Making data driven decisions will assist our brand to drive income and profit, growing from a place of data and its interpretation will give us a competitive advantage ahead of our market environment.

In areas of designing, it's a statement of fact that fashion is tied to personal & cultural expressions. I believe this course will influence how we design, taking note of how styles evolve to predict customer future design insight.

What are your main areas of research interest and how do they fit with the structure of this course?

My main area of research interest is to use the data modelling tools to transform our brand into a data driven fashion brand with complete reliance on marketing intelligence, analytics and data driven decision making process. In 2024 our brand invested around $250,000 in the first installment of a plough back investment program into the acquisition of machinery to build a RTW ( Ready to Wear ) section of our business, currently we only make bespoke suits, shirts & african traditional wears.

Our play into ready to wear will see us use our past customer data for predictive analysis. Data such as measurements will be used to develop the appropriate sizing to display on our rack, location to determine possible products assortments per location, other important data will also see us understand our customers current & futuristic buying behaviour, this will also help us to sell ads that will match their exact expectation both in short term and long term.

Thank you

• Advanced Business Analysis
• Green Belt Holder Training
• CISA (Certified Information System Auditor)
• Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)
• Advanced Excel Certification

• Business & Finance
• Watching Movies

Won Best dressed Student in my final year dinner

Won best dressed in my workplace 2016