Congratulations to the illustrious changemaker Edmond Lloyd, CEO of Edana Photography.
While serving as a full-time civil servant, engineer and planner at the Department of Public Works, helping to shape infrastructure development in Liberia, Edmond is a full-time creative artist, photographer and dedicated entrepreneur. He holds a Master of Engineering degree in Town and Country Planning, a Bachelor of Science degree in Building Construction Technology with a focus on Architecture Engineering and is currently a candidate for a Master of Science in Environmental Science at the University of Liberia.
By: B. Garmondyu Zogar, Contributing Author
From humble beginnings, with strong empirical scholastic records from high school through college, Edmond landed in India over six years ago after receiving a full scholarship from the Liberian government. While completing his Master of Engineering program in Urban and Rural Planning at the prestigious GTU – Gujarat Technological University, he found his direction in the creative industries. In addition to studying, he not only mastered video and photo art, but also worked as a part-time model for clothing brands. With the newly discovered passion, he completed professional courses in VFX, 3DMax, 2DAnimation and Adobe After Effect, among others.
A simple Google search for the word Liberia will bring you images of war, poverty, hunger and disease (that’s because we don’t document our own stories). On the other hand, there are thousands of untold stories about Liberia’s rich cultural heritage, beautiful places of tourist attractions, amazing lifestyle, etc. that need to be presented to the world. With this in mind, Edmond was inspired to create a unique way of telling Liberian history through his camera lenses.
Upon returning to Liberia, he founded Edana Photography, named after his beloved daughter, with the vision of “rebranding Liberia through positive imagery”. He started taking his daughter’s photos and putting them online, which eventually attracted attention as the quality was not common in the Liberian market. Soon friends and families began asking for his service. At first he did it for free, but it was time consuming, so Edmond decided to charge for his services. However, the more he added costs, the more customers attracted exponentially. Then he said to himself, “This is a potential deal, let’s do it.” Moreso, Edana Photography announced and documented a dear friend’s wedding in August 2016 and began to change the landscape of images and became an inspiration for many other startups. Today Edana Photography is not just about “photography and videography”. They have other franchises Edana Magazine, Edana Online Magazine and pretty soon Edana Tours, Edana Studios and more.
Edmond widely introduced what is now known as a photo shoot in Liberia, which is not only a means of capturing people’s happy moments, but also a source of income for many photographers.
He is a 2021 beneficiary of the Liberia Employment and Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP), an AFD-funded program run by Mercy Corps Liberia.
When the UNDP-funded Growth Accelerator Liberia program was announced for the second cohort this year, Edmond was reassured that it was an appropriate platform to amplify his desire to scale Edana Photography and impact the lives of many young people. From the many applicants, Edana Photography was one of the winners of the $40,000.00 grant.
The Growth Accelerator Liberia is an initiative of UNDP and the Government of Liberia as part of the Livelihood & Employment Creation Project, run by iCampus, Accountability Lab Liberia, BSC Monrovia and Growth Africa, which aims to develop young potential Liberian entrepreneurs through education and access to increase funding.
What a story of resilience and vision to tell. Congratulations to the Edana team. Vermon Sangah Lloyd, Gurmue Suah et al. We made it! I’m proud to be at the forefront of more success stories as a consultant and graphic design consultant. I have always maintained that Liberia has no shortage of leaders and visionary people. It is politics that blinds us to seeing these incredible people among us.
It only gets better!
