Sami Zekri: Trainer of the Canon Academy

My Canon Story

Since his birth in 1977 in Tunis, Sami’s father was taking family pictures with a canon reflex.
His mother tongue is Tunisian but learned Arabic and French in primary school, Italian
watching television and English in high school.
In 1997 he went to study pharmacy in Senegal, but didn’t succeed, instead he learned to
play Guitar, learned Jolof (one of the senegalese languages) and started amateur
photography with the same camera that his father gave him.
In 1998 he went to italy to get an optician diploma in 2000, then came back to Tunisia and
opened an optician business in 2001 that closed in 2004.
Like his father, he loved taking pictures of his two children, but also other people and
particularly in the old Medina (town) of Tunis and Kairouan.
He was hired by a loan company as account manager and process trainer for customers in
2004 then as seller by a Canon distributor in 2006. In 2009 he was promoted as Key account
manager until 2014. Meanwhile he had four years of Japanese classes.
He was recruited by a security systems company in 2014 but another offer got him back to
printers and wholesale in 2015.
After more than 10 years of experience working for others, he decided to become a
freelance photographer and became Sam Zekri.
He was self taught and started in 2016 with an EOS 7D. He learned from whoever wanted
to teach him, and then little by little, with the help of family and friends, he grew and bought
cameras and accessories that allowed him to get better results.
In 2017 he created Polypus Prod, remembering his insular origins (polypus signification is
octopus in Latin)
His personal and professional experience allowed him to have a respectable network. His
talent for communication and his developed empathy were real assets for his professional
career. His professionalism, discipline and dedication allowed him to be hired by small
businesses, then by bigger and bigger companies.
Now Polypus Prod can hire up to 10 freelancers depending on the projects and has more
than 100 companies as clients.
This new career allowed him to travel, visit and volunteer in Asia and Africa, discovering
other cultures and traditions.
In 2021, he got two Certificates in design Thinking, in 2023 he got a professional Master
degree in Management and culture politics in Dauphine University of Tunis and in 2024 he
got the Canon accreditation for photography training.
Now his house is also his studio, he tries to travel as much as possible, he is dedicated to
his work as a trainer and his motto is : “ I will alway try to give as much as I receive."