When Oladimeji Olaniyan began his first degree in Mechanical Engineering in the Covenant University, Ogun State, Nigeria, he was most probably unaware of the greater calling awaiting him outside the shores of Africa, particularly in faraway United States. Upon completing his Bachelor of Engineering degree in 2018, with second class upper division and distinctions in production engineering, control systems, technology management, modelling and simulation, Oladimeji, went further to have practical experience in solving complex mechanical and electrical problems in a leading automobile firm in Lagos, preparing him for what has now become his new roles in Silicon Valley in the US.
Oladimeji, popularly known as ‘Ladi,’ did not get into the tech world by accident. Earlier preparation during his eight-week internship and trainee stint in Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, from June to July 2016, before his graduation, exposed him to his first training in cutting edge technology. His proficiency in problem solving in mechanical engineering provided a foundation upon which subsequent training found a foundation. That became a learning asset for him at Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, where he had his Master of Engineering Management (MEM) in a collaborative programme run by faculty from the Thayer School of Engineering and the Tuck School of Business, from September 2021 to November 2022.
Ladi took seriously his studies beyond just engineering knowledge and skill, extending to leadership and volunteer activities as well as platform design management and strategy. He emerged the vice president of MEM student council, building on what he has learnt in Nigeria as volunteer tutor (Science and Arithmetic), Google Nigeria, an endeavour that earned him junior achievement recognition. Between November 2018 and July 2021, at Pivot GIS Limited, Lagos, Nigeria, Ladi developed business entry strategy aimed at unlocking net new business ventures and driving company northwards 20 per cent market share in first five years.
Since he completed his MEM programme until recently, Ladi has found great prospects in artificial intelligence, working at first as a senior technical product manager at Amazon Alexa, California, USA. Leading a five-person team, he was involving in what led to the launch of Audio Home, Alexa’s primary visual audio discovery feature, deployed on 80 million devices, across 12 regions and sixteen languages (with executive alignment), generating four million plus weekly impressions and resulting in 223 basis point increase in listening engagement. Eight new AI integrated features to 400 million plus Alexa customers worldwide, with executive alignment, have also launched, resulting in 40 per cent increase in audio content discovery in music/podcasts/radio/music videos) and 80 per cent monthly listener retention. He developed AI hyper-personalisation frameworks, leveraging large language models and presence detection across 600 million plus Alexa devices, driving a 15 per cent monthly increase in audio content discovery.
In less than two years, beginning from January 2023 to August 2024, Ladi was Senior Product Manager, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Agentic AI, California, where he began first as senior product manager MBA Intern, June 2022 to September 2022. Ladi continues to rise as his profile becomes more visible, from Dartmouth. And the world is taking note as he now leads an AI role at Uber in the USA. The story of Ladi, a young Nigerian in the diaspora, making indelible mark on the global stage, continues to unfold.
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