As a creator and conceptualiser in Japan with over 30 years of experience; I have witnessed both the strengths of the early days, as well as the current weaknesses and ambivalence creators in similar positions encounter.

Having firsthand experience of the socially and productively detrimental workings of large corporations, I often see individuality and creative potential stifled at the whims of large corporations to the extent where, if this continues, the youth of today will exist in a society with no local brands or innovation to be proud of and no individual aspiration to entrepreneurship.

The opaque criteria of large corporations, who seldom have non monetary foresight, create glass ceilings that stymy not only individual potential but the dreams of highly talented people.

During the Covid pandemic my company was also in a situation where we, after having success and winning awards with brands we created, were then bogged down in crushing and futile legalities. Where in order to survive and prevent being walked over by such aforementioned corporate Goliaths, we needed to prioritise legal issues above artistic progress.

As a creator I simply want to play a positive role in society. “I want to pay my taxes as they are the nation’s income”; it sounds so simple, yet being bogged down in legal fees there is often no way for small businesses to pay accountants, let alone taxes. Meanwhile large multinational corporations were the first at the trough of government pandemic handouts. So I started thinking…

“How many others like me are there?”

“Where is the social productivity in the current system?”

vHaving been in this situation I decided to change the system, to decentralise the processes through which first tier companies economically dominate the creative industry and control market access.

Powerful companies, who currently dominate selection, see their own corporate brands and income as paramount and superior to the brands of the clients that they are contracted to represent. This practice destroys souls, crushes dreams and damages the larger economy.

So we will decentralise this archaic selection process and provide a platform for those with skills to individually monetise them, and for the consumer to decide directly and choose freely based on personal taste, as opposed to campaigns that dictate that selection process.

“I like what I like”, as do all free thinking people, I don’t want to be told who to listen to by a large advertising agency, or who to support and what brands I should wear.

The current selection process is far too small, the same shops dominate wherever you go, on YouTube the same tired old faces ply their trades and are merely annoying. I would rather see you or my neighbours’ children given that chance and realising their potential.

To stop uniqueness becoming a thing of the past, iBusX sets out to provide a platform to support and nurture individuality; which is essential to a healthy market. After all, we have never been so technologically advanced and there has never been so much creativity; so why are our options so limited?

As a society we are all capable of choosing what we like and rewarding, directly, those who provide it. So we decided to build such a platform and that is iBusX.

The road ahead will be difficult and the carnivorous dinosaurs of old will, as always, fight to oppose free market choice, but I feel in my heart that to survive they must embrace change to prevent their own extinction, that we are not wrong in bringing choice back where it belongs, with society.

Let’s support local talent on a worldwide scale, this is the heart of iBusX which in turn is at the heart of Gion & Pacific Holdings.

Lee Longshaw

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