Seyi Took His Passion for Creativity and Turned it Into a Business with Help from Alt Valley

Seyi Odeyemi first approached Alt Valley Community Trust in March 2016 for business start-up advice; having heard about the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) funded Enterprise Hub business start-up support available through local publicity.

Seyi has had a life- long interest in the arts, especially music and photography and thought it was about time he put his complete faith in being able to run his own photography business. All that was needed were the essential business skills and information to enable him to launch the business and give it the best possible chance to succeed in the critical early few months.

“I grew up thinking I wanted to become a doctor,” adds Seyi, “but after working in the hospital for over 5 years and successfully completing a degree in biochemistry I knew I wanted something different for my life. I worked as a photographer for the LJMU student union and during this period, I realised that I wanted to pursue a career in photography. As such I started taking the necessary steps to build a photography business to the point where it's my main source of livelihood.”

Seyi initially attended a business start-up workshop that gave him the essential tools and knowledge required to get the company started; this was quickly followed by a detailed session on marketing and customer generation.  A “wrap up” session concentrated on matters of legislation and compliance and as a result Seyi registered his new company with Companies House in April 2016.

The company is called ESSOD Limited and the business provides inspirational and high quality commercial and privately commissioned photography to a wide range of clients.

Throughout the process Seyi was assisted by the team of Alt Valley Community Trust Business Advisors.

Seyi commented:

“One of the best perks of being part of the Alt Valley partnership is the opportunity that is given to network with very high value entrepreneurs and business owners e.g. Lawrence Kenwright of Signature Living. The amount of support given by the experts is tremendously beneficial. They have helped refine my business even from an early stage and I'm continually making improvements based on their advice.”

Seyi is now concentrating on building his client portfolio and showing examples of his work on his new website – www.essodphotography.com. He has already been commissioned to shoot a newly refurbished  leisure and sports Centre in Liverpool, which will be followed by a shoot at a rapidly expanding Animal Farm and Visitor Centre. With Merseyside’s fantastic reputation and expansion as a visitor and leisure economy, Seyi hopes to capitalise on this:

“As a company, Essod Photography is looking to expand in the near future by hiring and training young/new Liverpool based photographers. We want to be a source of employment for aspiring Liverpool based photographers to save the trouble of having to relocate to a new city just for work.

The future is bright, and as the right foundations are being set, a sustainable business will be created that will remain for years to come and resonate with the people of Liverpool.”

“Essod Photography is different because we set very high standards in image quality and production. We don't just take pictures, we take time to understand what it is that needs to be photographed and why so that the right tools are used to create the PERFECT image. We bring a fresh perspective to image creation.”

For more information on Seyi and Essod Photography visit www.essodphotography.com or

call 07940144906.

If like Seyi you have a passion you would like to turn into a business and are living in the Liverpool City Region, then you could also get funded support via Enterprise Hub.  Contact the team today on 0151 706 8113 or enterprisehub@thewo.org.uk to find out more.