Liberia: Rebranding Liberia

Congratulating the illustrious change maker, Edmond Lloyd, CEO of Edana Images.

Whereas working as a full-time public servant, engineer and planner inside the Ministry of Public Works, serving to to form infrastructural improvement in Liberia, Edmond is a full-time artistic artist, photographer and devoted entrepreneur. He has a Grasp of Engineering Diploma in City and Nation Planning, a Bachelor of Science Diploma in Constructing Development Know-how with an emphasis in Structure Engineering and is at present a candidate of Grasp of Science in Environmental Science from the College of Liberia.

From humble beginnings, with sturdy empirical scholastic information from highschool via faculty, Edmond landed in India over six years in the past after being awarded a full scholarship by the Authorities of Liberia. Whereas finishing his Grasp of Engineering program in City and Nation Planning on the prestigious GTU – Gujarat Technological College, he discovered his route within the artistic business. On the sidelines of research, he didn’t solely grasp the artwork of video and pictures, but in addition labored as half time mannequin for clothes manufacturers. With the newfound ardour, he accomplished skilled programs in VFX, 3DMax, 2DAnimation, and Adobe After Impact amongst others.

A easy google search of the phrase Liberia will deliver you photos of conflict, poverty, starvation and illness (it is because we’re not documenting our personal tales). Whereas, there are millions of untold tales in regards to the wealthy cultural heritage of Liberia, the gorgeous locations of vacationer’s points of interest, the wonderful way of life, and so on., that must be showcased to the world. In opposition to this backdrop, Edmond was impressed to inform the Liberian story in a novel via his digicam lenses.

Upon his return to Liberia, he established “Edana Images” named after his darling daughter with the imaginative and prescient to “rebrand Liberia via constructive imagery”. He begun by taking his daughter’s images and posting on-line which finally sparked attentions as the standard was not atypical on the Liberian market. Quickly, buddies and households begun to succeed in out asking for his service. At first, he did it freed from cost, nevertheless it was time consuming, so Edmond determined so as to add prices to his companies. Nevertheless, the extra he added prices, the extra shoppers pulled in exponentially. Then he stated to himself, “it is a potential enterprise, let’s do it”. Moreso, Edana Images introduced itself and coated an expensive good friend’s marriage ceremony in August of 2016 and began to reworked the panorama of images and have become an inspiration to many different start-ups. At present, Edana Images is not only about “pictures and videography”. They produce other franchises Edana Journal, Edana On-line Journal and fairly quickly, Edana Excursions, Edana Studios and extra.

Edmond launched what’s now generally known as photoshoot in Liberia on a big scale which isn’t only a technique of capturing individuals’s glad moments, but in addition as a income producing stream for a lot of photographers.

He’s a 2021 beneficiary of the Liberia Employment and Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP), an AFD funded program carried out by Mercy Corps Liberia.

When the UNDP-funded Progress Accelerator Liberia program was introduced for the second cohort this yr, Edmond was assured that this was a correct platform to assist amplified his need to scale Edana Images and influence the lives of many younger individuals. Of the numerous candidates, Edana Images emerged as one of many winners of $USD 40,000.00 in grant.

The Progress Accelerator Liberia is a UNDP and the Authorities of Liberia initiative below the Livelihood & Employment Creation Mission carried out by iCampus, Accountability Lab Liberia, BSC Monrovia and Progress Africa aimed toward empowering younger potential Liberian entrepreneurs through coaching and entry to finance.

What a narrative of resilience and imaginative and prescient to be informed. Congratulations to the Edana Crew. Vermon Sangah Lloyd, Gurmue Suah et al. We made it! I am proud to function advisor and graphic artwork guide to the start of extra success tales. I’ve at all times maintained that Liberia will not be wanting leaders and other people of imaginative and prescient. It is the politics that blinds us to recognizing these unbelievable individuals amongst us.

It solely will get higher!