Meet the Founder of Cameraman.ng, a Marketplace for Professional Photographers and Videographers in Nigeria

With photography becoming a high demand service in Nigeria, service providers are on the increase. This in turn has created a challenge when it comes to making the best choice, leading one to spend a lot of time in the search for the photographer that’ll be the best man for the job.

In a bid to make getting photography service a lot easier, Abudlrasheed Adeola launched cameraman.ng with his cofounders, Zenith Wogwugwu and Steven Nwadike. Through the platform, users are able book the services of photographers and videographers.

In this interview with Abdulrasheed, he shares the story behind the launch of cameraman.ng, revealed more about the platform, the business of photography and his foray into entrepreneurship.

Founders Africa (FA): Tell us a little about yourself

Abdulrasheed Adeola (AA): I’m Abdulrasheed Adeola founder of cameraman.ng, a graduate of Yaba College of Technology, with Higher National Diploma in Graphic Design.

With my graphic design skills, I’ve have been able to work with companies like Printivo, MyAds Global, Bincom ICT Solutions as Lead Graphics Designer and other SMEs as freelance creative designer.

I went to to do my National Youth Service Corps with Kelechi Amadi Obi Studio where I got to brush-up my Photography skills and ideas. Since then, I’ve been able to offer great photography service to clients by capturing their irreplaceable memories, and withing the past 6years, I’ve worked with a sizable number of clients.

Sometime in April 2014, I organized a free Photography and Web Design workshop as a giveback to the community at Yaba College of Technology.

I started and successfully built my photography brand D’AwareImages while still in school, which eventually became cameraman.ng of today.

FA: Tell us about cameraman.ng and the solutions you’re offering

AA: Cameraman.ng is an online market place for Fast, Affordable and Reliable Professional Photographers and Videographers.

Let me share a quick story with you.

Meet Oluyomi Ojo of Printivo.

He is a very busy printing tech savvy CEO, who is about to wed but dealing with the affairs and operations of his company.

He is faced with the challenges not having enough time to reach out to cameramen; he is afraid of disappointment by the cameramen on his beautiful day; he is faced with the choice of selecting good cameramen; affordability and reliability is another of his watchword.

Meet Adeola of Epixelz.

A proud father of two, who makes living through photography with a big dream of catering for his family through his niche, but faces a number of challenges.No access to photography jobs; most clients withhold payment even after job delivery; he is limited by time which in turn affects delivery; most clients/users have trust issues, finding it difficult to believe he takes the pictures himself.

These gave us headways to creating a marketplace for photographers/videographers, where users book affordable vetted and trusted cameramen with just few clicks; which on the other hand provide quality jobs for the cameramen.

FA: What inspired the idea to provide photography service?

AA: The inspiration: while working at MyAds Global, I got a lot of photography and videography jobs as a result of referrals and trust, with the belief that every of their beautiful moments would be recorded accurately in pictures. But the schedule was way to tight for me and I decided to let go some of these job to other photographers who are my friends while I collect a commission.

Although the photography business idea has been there since way back in school, but the idea and execution strategy wasn’t clear, until this year, April 2017 when I met Steven Nwadike my Co-Founder and we deliberated on several business model ideas and eventually came up with cameraman.ng.

With this, we then decided to create a platform that manages these photographers and videographers.

The Cameraman.ng Team

FA: How does the platform work? How do users get connected, and what does it take for photographers to come on board?

AA: In just few clicks, Cameraman instantly matches you with Professional Photographers/Videographers around your locality.

We have made the Platform easy and affordable to users who are willing to capture and record every beautiful moment.

The users journey begin from a simple booking on the platform after which they are instantly matched. Then payment is made, and we have it secured by our escrow system. The photographer/videographer shows up at an agreed time, day and venue. Once work is ready, it gets delivered to the clients.

For the photographers/videographers we have a created a form that allows us to vet them and know who is fit for the platform because we pledge to give our users/clients the very best. We also invite them for a physical meeting to get a better knowledge of who they are and their personalities.

FA: Do you get a commission from photographers/videographers when they get jobs through the platform?

AA: With the years of experience in the photography industry, we have been able to place a commission that would not in anyway affect the productivity and quality of job posted to the photographers/videographers.

FA: How would you rate the response rate since launch?

AA: I would say the rate has not been where we want it to be but definitely we are not where we used to be when we launched four months ago.

FA: What challenges do you face running cameraman.ng, and how do you overcome them?

AA: Starting up wasn’t so cool, but we scaled through our first stage of moving from point 0 to 1. Financing the business is another challenge which my colleague and I use every of our penny to make sure we never stop we never relent.

Getting the right team was another challenged faced, but I kept my mind open and heads high up till the right team was formed.

FA: What has been your most exciting moment since you started running cameraman.ng?

AA: Being the winner of the Next Economy Acceleration Program organized by CCHub and ENVIU; the day I figured out my dream is getting clearer and becoming a reality day by day. Finding the right team is another thing to be excited about.

FA: What’s your advice for aspiring African entrepreneurs?

AA: “Your mind is a soil, what you plant grows”. Push yourself to the limit and you would realize you can still push further more. Keep on keeping on.