We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Josh Igwe a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Josh , we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Self Esteem is built over time. Unless you were born with the delusional belief that you can do anything.(just like young dumb me was). I’ve had to develop my confidence through getting better at my craft, which might look like me composing music everyday., tweaking a design in photoshop, banging my head over a piece of code for hours on end. every little success contributes to a greater sense of self esteem..
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I founded a company called Pomqem. It’s a creative playground where I and fellow designers get to bring new worlds to life. Professionally Pomqem is a creative technology company and community that builds imaginative digital experiences, with the aim of bridging African creativity with the digital world.
In 2023 we launched a metaverse musical experience called Afropsych3D which won 2nd runner up in the Stanbic Fuze Tech Competition.
In 2024 we plan to launch a demo of our Action Adventure game based in Africa.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
There are many skills a creative has to develop on their rough journey but the best ones that have positively impacted my journey are:
Take Risks: in a world that cherishes conformity, it often appears scary to explore our weird individual interests. However the greatest innovative ideas are born out of people who combined familiar and unfamiliar territories. In my teenage years as a music producer I fused my love of afrobeats music with rock which was unheard of at the time. Fast forward to today I’ve been blessed to build an online community of afrorock musicians passionate about passing a revolutionary message through music.
Keep an Open Mind: As a human you’re continually taking in new data on the world around you and transforming them into things… AKA Art!
It helps to cultivate the kind of mind that tries new things, food, cultures, books etc. Such experiences serve as a large buffet of references to pick from when innovating novel inventions. I can’t count how many times a line of text I read or artifact I saw in a museum found its way into one of my games, which makes story richer.
Keep Iterating: resilience is a powerful tool to have in one’s arsenal, whether as an entrepreneur or artist. The willpower to keep pushing to achieve your goals is very important in a world that doesn’t care about your ideas or when situations don’t go your way.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
My startup Pomqem is looking to build a vibrant community of artists, designers. computer developers and thinkers excited about imagining new realities and possibilities. Such folks are always welcome to partnering with me! And we can connect through my IG: _joshigwe
Or www.pomqem.com
Contact Info:
- Website:www.pomqem.com
- Instagram: _joshigwe
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-igwe?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Youtube: @joshigwe
- Other: Instagram: Pomqem.io
