We are in a generation where capturing every moment of our lives have become essential. Before now, we keep everything private, but with social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and others, photography has evolved into a household skill. We spoke to Bunmi Adebimpe, Founder of VP-CUBE, a photography enterprise focused on family and baby portraits. She shares her journey into entrepreneurship with us:
Tell us about yourself and the inspiration behind setting up VP-CUBE photography?
My name is Bunmi Adebimpe, also known as Queen-B. I am the Creative Director and Chief Photographer of Vantage Point Picture Perfect (VP-Cube). We are a maternity, child and family photography outfit. VP-Cube was born out of the thirst of satisfying the photography needs of my friends and family. Because of the passion I had for photography at the time, my family and friends would invite me for different photo-sessions especially where they weren’t too impressed with the quality of pictures they get from their photographers. Fast forward to 2014, while still working as an HR consultant, I started VP-Cube and began enrolling for professional photography classes both within Nigeria and abroad.
What is the concept behind running a baby/family-oriented photography outfit and how has it been since inception?
As a people, we are always intrigued with life experiences that we forget our children are not going to stay little forever. As someone who loves babies, it is always exhilarating to capture the smiles, little feet and those funny cute beings before they grow into the independent adults we want them to be. At VP-Cube, we love to capture those beautiful memories so they can last a lifetime. Being a child photographer has been interesting and rewarding. Professionally, VP-Cube is less than 2 years but I must say our client base has grown organically over the last few months.
At what point did you decide to take the bold step into entrepreneurship?
I was career person until I decided to take the bold step. Initially, I combined my job as a full-time HR Consultant with photography but when my clientele base began to expand, I decided to pursue my passion for photography around late 2015. There are other ancillary businesses which we are still planning to set up under the umbrella of Aston and Ashridge Business Services (the holding company of VP-Cube), but for now we are pushing all our efforts into VP-Cube, My-First-Moments and Queen-B Photo-Films.
Briefly describe your workforce or the team behind VP-CUBE photography?
VP-Cube is principally led by me as the chief photographer but I have colleagues who support me and an assistant and photo editor. We are already hunting for an admin and accounting staff to ensure we have all round division of labour.
How do you balance running a business with your other personal itineraries?
Balancing business, family and personal commitments takes a lot of professional will, perseverance and focus. I try as much as possible to devote sufficient time to all areas. With the grace of God and support of my family, we are able to weather the storm.
Describe the challenges you face regularly as a young entrepreneur in Nigeria and how you have been able to manage them?
The challenge we mostly face is working with the right people, getting sufficient publicity/referrals to promote our products and services and capital. But we have been able to tackle these challenges with the right business mindset and good relationship management and we are hoping to get better as we grow.
Tell us how you have harnessed social media in creating brand awareness for your business?
We have a fairly strong social media presence. VP-Cube is live on Instagram; @vpcube_photofactory, Facebook; www.facebook.com/vpcube and Twitter; VPcube Studios and we are also putting finishing touches to our website www.vantagepoint.com.ng which we intend to launch soon.
Since inception of your business how have you been able to increase your clientele-base overtime?
We have grown from one client in 2014 to over 50 clients in 2016 and our clientele base has tripled in the last few months I must say. We learn everyday and we bring something new and different to the table, which distinguishes us from others. We have a lot to share but we are taking one step at a time in the right direction.
Tell us about the future plans for your business and any other plans
Our future plan is to become the household name in photography in Nigeria and beyond. However, our immediate big project is called MYFIRSTMOMENTS. This we have flagged off with our partnerships with some major hospitals. What we do basically is to capture the baby’s first moments just after delivery right in the hospital and we ensure these beautiful memories are available to the mothers before they are discharged from the hospital.
What advice would you give to young budding entrepreneurs, and those who are very scared of leaving there 9-5 jobs to launch out their business idea?
My advice is to believe you can do whatever you lay your hands on as long as you have the drive, right strategy and thirst for success. People should know by now that entrepreneurship is the next big thing. Having your business no matter how small will sustain you and help the world become a better place.
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