Young creatives get business insight on market project

NewsBusiness

May 5

LEARNING EXPERIENCE: From left, Tarik and Omar Skalli of OAT Productions and Victoria Smith of Victoria Smith Photography

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A collaboration by young creatives to raise the profile of one of the city centre’s main assets has also given them valuable insight into how to develop their businesses.

Victoria Smith, owner of Victoria Smith Photography, joined forces with Omar and Tarik Skalli of OAT Productions to go behind the scenes at Trinity Market.

They interviewed traders, photographed and filmed the place and the people and learned important lessons.

Tarik said: “I learned a lot about the resilience of the businesses, how they survived during Covid, food vendors being able to come through that period and bounce back.”

Omar added: “It’s reassuring to see other businesses that have developed and then seen the fruits of their labours. It also shows the High Street isn’t dead. It will regenerate.”

Victoria said: “I’m really glad I started my business in Hull. The photography and videography scene here is really supportive.”

The trio were given the opportunity through their work with Making Changes for Careers (MC4C), which works to give young people the inspiration and support they need to realise their entrepreneurial ambitions.

A feature of the project was the way in which it helped Victoria and Omar return from studying elsewhere in the UK and set up their businesses in their home city.

Victoria studied photography at Hull College and then went to Manchester School of Art for three years before trying a variety of jobs across the north of England.

She rediscovered her passion for photography last year and she bumped into Paul Smith from MC4C while covering an open mic night. With a portfolio comprising live bands, weddings and some commercial work, Victoria was building her experience but recognises that MC4C filled an important gap.

She said: “I’d done all the technical training with dark rooms, fine art and commercial but nothing about business. Going through the MC4C scheme gave me the knowledge I had been missing.”

Twin brothers Omar and Tarik had started out doing media studies and film studies at Wyke College. Omar then studied film and media production at Sheffield Hallam University and then worked as a video trainee on an ITV production featuring Helena Bonham Carter and on Star Wars: the Acolyte TV show.

Tarik worked on a Kickstart scheme with Astor Productions of Spring Bank for about ten months and then moved into freelance video to test the water.

He said: “I worked with SMEs to promote their products and services and I also did a lot of networking to build contacts. That meant when Omar came back, we were able to move more quickly.”

The three attended a meeting of creatives who were invited to explore ideas around how to promote the market. They realised they would make a good team and they launched a joint project which has resulted in the completed film being posted on the Visit Hull website and their social media platforms.

They extended the opportunity to others by bringing in a local presenter and finding other professionals to look after sound, graphics and editing – each of them also bringing the experience and instincts which enabled them to package something as traditional as a market and appeal to the younger generation.

Victoria captured different aspects around the businesses – meals being prepared, portraits of the vendors, organising models who could be photographed enjoying the food, walking around, thumbing through records.

Omar and Tarik interviewed some of the vendors – Dan at Falafia, Rachel at Boss Burrito/Dope Burger, Steve at Spin It Records.

Tarik said: “They were talking about what a great location it is, being in the Old Town and next to the Minster. They also talked about the regeneration of the market and the events – they’d like to see more of those.”

Victoria added: “It was nice to be able to concentrate on the photography rather than having to do video and editing as well. We all played to our strengths and I’m looking forward to seeing the film.”

Omar said: “We were excited when we became aware of the opportunity but I didn’t expect to scale up to the point of working with Visit Hull. We felt it was out of our scale at the time because we were used to there being just the two of us.

“But we always felt there would be opportunities to get other people involved and now we know we can do that. We’ve created a project which is encouraging more people to support local businesses in the area. That’s the main purpose of it.”

Ian Cass, chair of Microbusiness Alliance, said: “We are always telling micro business owners and entrepreneurs in general to obsess on their customers and engage with the wider micro business community and this project achieved both. It got three young entrepreneurs involved in the community and with potential future customers and the finished piece will reach many more. It's another great initiative from the Hull City Council's MC4C team!”