Access Bank and the Nigerian Breweries have struck a partnership to provide a platform for Nigerian youths to make the best of their natural music talents. The firms are co-sponsoring a musical reality show called ‘Access the Stars’, with fame and monetary rewards to the tune of N150 million up for grabs. Auditions to select the best 10 finalists that will feature on the show are set for Abeokuta, Abuja, Calabar, Lagos, Onitsha, and Owerri at the latter part of this month. The grand finale will be aired on Nigerian TV before the end of the year.
A-list music producer, TY-Mix, artiste Sheyi Shay, and Kaffy (a professional dance trainer) will serve as judges on the show. The involvement of these well-respected industry players is key to brushing the talents of the prospective participants.
The musical reality show aims to help young people develop their natural talents into valuable assets that can be commercialised for personal and national gains. If successfully executed, the show has the potential of creating income streams for producers, crew members and participants.
Reiterating the impact of the show this week, Herbert Wigwe, the Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank said, “We have about 200 million people with talents, but some do not have a platform, and with statistics showing that more than 50 per cent of the population are still unemployed, that statistics can be changed.”
He added, “But what we are doing is to support and build these talents and create the appropriate platform, harnessing their raw talents, grooming them irrespective of where they are and make them shine more.”Further highlighlighting the role of the show and the partnership, Jordi Burrut, the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Breweries, explained that, “There is a clear need for the Nigerian economy to grow and Access Bank and Nigerian Breweries believe that there are so many talents in Nigeria that really become the next big thing and they need the opportunity and platform to help achieve that exposure and that is what we want to give them.”
As the Nigerian tertiary institutions annually produce not less than 500,000 graduates, job opportunities for young people are rare to come by. The holes and gaps left by unemployment in the society have to be filled to avert major social and economic crisis. If you are interested in taking this opportunity look out for the ads