By Vivian Onyebukwa
Rotary Club of Akowonjo, Lagos took an exclusive vocational tour of a cutting-edge photo lab, Shinny Photo Lab, Ikeja, Lagos, as part of its activities to mark Rotary month of vocational service.
The participants, mostly children took a dive into the exciting world of photography by exploring a state-of-the-art photo lab called Shinny Photo Lab, Ikeja, Lagos.
President Rotary Club of Akowonjo, Lagos, Dr Sunkanmi Amoye, said the tour served as a career opportunity for the young ones to discover the wide array of career opportunities within the photography industry. “Today, we have opened the hearts and minds of young ones to the possibilities in vocation, and this one that we are looking at is in photography lab production. This is because a lot of them are on holidays now, and a lot of them are in higher institution, so it’s good for them to have another perspective to what business is all about. They can decide what to do and if it is something they want to show interest in”.
It was a long tour of the facility led by the company’s MD, Alhj Bola Yusuf which also provided an insight on photography business. “There were lots of questions from the young ones and you can see a lot of passion being ignited here today, Dr Sunkanmi Amoye added.
Dr Amoye explained that Rotary month of vocational service was in January, but was extended till later because a lot of the children were in school so they decided to hold it at this time. “In Rotary we focus on different aspects, and January was focusing on vocation. So this is a vocation and this is where we want to have future leaders also coming from our young ones”.
Speaking, the MD, Shinny Photo Lab, Alhj Bola Yusuf, further highlighted the essence of the facility tour which, he said was to encourage the young ones to have interest in vocation. “These days we have a lot of youths that are into Yahoo, drugs, and those that are just everywhere doing so many other bad things. So we need to catch these children young and put them in the right part and let them know that there is money in handwork especially in photography. There is millions of Naira in photography especially; it is a big industry. That is why we have brought them together today, take them round and let them see things practically and appreciate what we are doing”.
While advising the children, Alhj Bola Yusuf who attended University of Ilorin where he had BSC in Sociology, and MSC in Business Administration in year 2000, also disclosed that he did not study photography. He, therefore, advised the children to face their studies, and ensure that they go to school. “I did not start photography from day one, but at least, I went to school, studied hard, and put myself in a good position before going into the business involved. So face your studies and after school, you should look beyond certificate and see what you can do with your hands. There are a lot of things we can do especially in photography; photography is bigger than what people think”.