Anwulika Wuliamba decided to do what she loved, and following that well-worn trope seems to be working out nicely for her.
The Halifax-based photographer, who made the move to Canada from Nigeria with her family in 2018, says her current business has grown organically, from a simple love of photography.
“People started contacting me based on photos they saw online — from photos I’d taken for fun of family and friends — saying I should be charging for my work,” Wuliamba says.
Wuliamba, who took photos as part of her job back in Nigeria, picked it up again in 2019 “to stay busy during maternity leave,” moving on to create a business in 2020, and then to register Wuliamba Productions in 2021. Her clientele, she says, is currently primarily people from her community, but adds she’s started moving towards working with other Black communities as well, including those originally from Africa and the Caribbean. She's hoping to expand her audience by reaching further afield to increase her exposure.
“I will say that social media has positively impacted the growth of the business, with approximately 50 per cent of new clients contacting me through social media and WhatsApp groups. The rest being through word of mouth,” she says.
Wuliamba and her husband made the decision to move to Canada after considering long-term quality of life issues, deciding their three children would be better served by a life here. Soon after, they applied to, and were accepted into, Canada’s Skilled Worker Program.
The family, she says, loves life in Halifax — citing the quiet, family-focused nature of the city — but the decision to emigrate, she says, wasn’t initially an easy one.
“It was a difficult decision to move to Canada, because we both had good careers back home, but we did it for our children,” she says. “Canada is a land of opportunities, and since arriving in 2018 it’s been a wonderful experience for all of us.”
And why and how does her business stand out? She says in addition to her professional-quality equipment, it’s the extra steps she takes to make sure clients are included in the process.
“We carry the customer along in the journey of the photoshoot. We get them involved from the point of booking the session, to planning and finally executing it,” she says. “This gives us the opportunity to actually understand what the customer needs, and from there we strive to surpass their expectations.”
Currently working a full-time job, Wuliamba, who operates from her home-based photo studio on weekends — doing primarily portrait shots — has plans for expansion in the future; including a larger separate studio and plans for a photography school.
“I’m growing my brand and in the next 2-3 years I look forward to having a large studio with a high ceiling. Right now, I can’t shoot some of my clients because of my space,” she says.
Despite her current limitations, business, says Wuliamba, has been steadily increasing over the last few years, and much of that, she says, is thanks to her new home.
“Business has been great, and we thank Halifax, the province, and the country as a whole, for creating an environment where small businesses can thrive.”
For more information or to book an appointment, visit wuliambaproduction.com
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