Published at 11:36, Tuesday, 26 May 2009

GRANGE woman Deborah Wylde is happy to be called an olderpreneur.

SNAP HAPPY: Deborah Wylde, left, is the owner of Pergola Photo. She is pictured in one of her booths SUBMITTED

She didn't start her successful company, which provides mobile photo booths for social occasions, until she was 57.

That was two years ago. Now it is a success and a growing business.

The big insurance group Standard Life has featured her in recently published research which suggested that one in 20 of the people born in the baby boom after the Second World War, hoped to embark on a new business career in their retirement.

Mrs Wylde, set up her business Pergola Photo Ltd, after spotting an opportunity whilst living in New York, where photo booths for fun are popular at parties and events.

They consist of a photo cabinet with a fascia and a booth frame which can be hung with differently themed drapes.

Party or wedding goers get themselves photo'd up to eight or even 10 at a time, wearing a selection of comic wigs, spectacles or moustaches, or, for instance, wearing pirate gear and brandishing cutlasses.

Customers have included mega firms like Virgin Trains, when it celebrated its tenth birthday and a couple of celebrity footballers from Manchester United and Everton.

Deborah met her chief technology officer, Larry Briendel, while in America when he was working as a consultant for a New York based photo booth company, and the two came up with the idea of Pergola Photo.

The divorced mother-of-two, who has done a range of jobs from being PA to a senior figure in the Ministry of Defence, to working for Lakeland, to making her own soaps, skin creams and lotions called Skindulge, spotted the success of the portable photo booth concept and was determined to capitalise on the gap in the market in the UK.

Pergola Photo designs and produces portable photos booths that can be given bespoke makeovers for any occasion from a toga party Temple to a South Sea Island hut.

It is the first company in England to use a photo booth for entertainment.

Ms Wylde said: We turn an everyday photo booth into a Party booth, offering any occasion, whether it be a wedding or a corporate event, elegant entertainment with maximum impact.

The booth is staffed by two photo concierges who guide the guests through the (touch screen) experience with professional service.

Ms Wylde who worked as an assistant to an executive in a large dotcom company in New York, said: I simply spotted a gap in the market and pounced on it. Business is booming and the booths are a real hit.

If I were to give any advice to budding olderpreneurs out there, it would be to "go for it". The job satisfaction that comes with running your own business is unparalleled and I cannot see myself stopping anytime soon. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

She believes there must be other budding olderpreneurs in Grange, which is famous for retired people.

Standard Life says the quiet revolution of olderpreneurs, like Deborah, is turning the traditional idea of retirement on its head and the intentions of the 45-to-65 year old group amount to nothing less than an enterprise revolution.

See:http://www.pergolaphoto.co.uk/index.html and http://www.standardlife.com/media/business_reports.html

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk