Let’s begin with you, who is Blessing Abeng and what fuels your creative journey?
I think different people will describe me differently depending on their interaction with my work. To some, I am a branding and communications professional who helps people find their unique value proposition and communicate it to their target audience, to some I am a content creator, and to some others, I am a person who has contributed immensely to the African tech ecosystem through my work as a CMO or cofounder of a startup or an edtech nonprofit.
But to me, I am just a person who loves Africa, and wants to leave the world a little better than I met it. Most times, my channels of making the world better are creative or wrapped in creativity, no matter how practical they are.
My creative journey itself is fueled by one thing only, and that is doing. The more I do, the more creative I get, the better opportunities I see, and the more I discover gaps, problems, and creative ways to solve them. It is interesting because for me, doing doesn’t mean working… it could mean different things.
For example, traveling, reading, walking, changing my perspective, immersing myself in something completely unrelated to anything specific, embracing new experiences, meeting new people, trying something I know I will fail at, visiting a museum, spending time with people I love, learning a new skill or concept… so maybe I can sum it up into doing, experiences, genuine curiosity, and rest. That rest part is so important, I talked about it recently in my sabbatical letter. Oh! And discipline also fuels my creative journey too. It’s interesting.
You’ve worked with and co-founded some impactful platforms like Ingressive for Good and Disha. What has been the most defining moment in your career so far?
I think one of the most defining moments of my career was making the courageous decision to step away from medicine, despite literally dedicating myself and years of my life to it. This choice completely altered my life’s trajectory and unveiled a world of possibilities.
Building the Startup Grind Lagos community became another transformative chapter in my journey. Through this experience, I cultivated meaningful relationships with fascinating people from around the globe. I learned so much, met and collaborated with so many interesting people across the world which profoundly shaped my perspective on technology. There’s also something uniquely rewarding about having supported numerous talented individuals during their earliest career stages, before they gained recognition and success—witnessing their growth from those humble beginnings was an extraordinary privilege.
Branding has evolved so much in Africa over the years. What do you think makes a brand truly connect with people today?
I think three things: authenticity, consistency, and community. A great brand is not afraid to be themselves and stay true to their identity and values. A good example is how Havard responded to President Trump’s demands. I have seen many African brands stand their ground for what they truly believe in against all odds and stay true to who they are.
I always tell brands not to see themselves as just institutions, they should take a moment to ask themselves: if my brand was a human being, what kind of human being or person would we be? What would we stand for and against? Authenticity is so important, because you need to know yourself to a certain degree, to communicate that self to your target audience and be consistent. Also, brands building communities around their products or values, often stand the test of time.
How do you balance staying creative while keeping things organized and strategic in your work?
So, fun fact, when I worked in an agency, I had the unique experience of working in both the strategy and creative departments at the same time. People have noted my seemingly “unusual” ability to move fluidly between business-oriented strategic thinking and creative expression. But I’ve never seen this as a dichotomy requiring balance. I don’t think it’s really this or that. I think creativity looks different for different people.
For some, creativity is expressed in a beautiful patterned chaos, and for some it’s a methodical fusion of both science and artistry. An architect is creative, so is Basquiat. Their approach is just different. I barely ever think of it as balancing. My process isn’t about toggling between separate mindsets. Instead, I simply focus on the challenge at hand: what solution will resonate deeply with my audience or fulfill my own creative vision So I start by not thinking of them as this or that. I focus on the solutions. By approaching problems holistically rather than compartmentalizing “strategy” versus “creativity you open up the door for possibilities.
Community plays a huge role in what you do. How do you see it shaping the future of African creatives?
I don’t see it shaping the future, I see it shaping the present already. Community has always been important to humans. Most humans crave belonging and something to believe in. So when united by shared love for a person or concept, a shared goal, shared mission, shared something, even shared hate, they find meaning and belonging in such communities. I once bumped into a creator who built a community first, and asked that community what they wanted, and then built that product, her community birthed her startups, which led to an empire.
You don’t need a product to build a community, you just need an idea and a few people who share/believe in that idea to the point that they are bound by it. If they feel connected enough, so much is possible. Communities can fuel the wealth of creators who have their attention, they can hold creators accountable, inspire creators to do more than they thought was possible, they can open up a world of possibilities.
For aspiring creatives who want to make an impact, what’s one thing they can start doing today?
They need to start creating. Go from aspiring to being a creator. Creations do not need to be perfect. It is sometimes the imperfection of it all that attracts your true tribe. Stop waiting for perfection. Start creating. That idea you’ve been procrastinating on because you were waiting for the right aesthetic, background, camera, phone, pencil, brush, canvas, tools, etc, to act on it. Act on the idea. Turn it from an idea to a reality. Remember that for iphone 15 to exist, iphone 1 had to exist, and that origin story is only beautiful because they dared to put it out even if it wasn’t all they wanted it to be. Start. Be a creator today.
