Nigerian Afropop star; Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade popularly known as Mr Eazi on the 20th of November, 2018 in Lagos, Nigeria, officially launched his new initiative; emPawa.
The new initiative will be looking to empower Africa’s best young talents in order to set them on the path to having exceptional music career success.
This new project is a collaboration between Mr Eazi and Nigerian Betting company owned by an international group of widely experienced investors; betPawa and other stakeholders in the African Entertainment industry.
This latest African empowerment platform will equip 100 African up-and-coming musicians and talents with the where-withal to succeed in the music industry.
During the unveiling in the Victoria Island area of Lagos in which Tooxclusive was present, Mr Eazi said since he broke onto the music scene back in 2016, he’s been helping young talents fulfill their potential.
Therefore, this initiative’s main objective is to discover Africa’s next batch of superstars from online platforms, majorly Instagram, with the hashtag emPawa100 (#emPawa100) along with the phrase; betting small to win big which allows for the candidates’ participation.
Mr Eazi intends to provide these talents with mentorship, financial backing, contacts and critical knowledge of the African music industry.
The emPawa facilitators will include international superstar DJ/Producer; Diplo of Major Lazer, Nigerian producer, E Kelly, UK singer & song writer; Raye, Guilty Beatz and Fred Gibbson.
The year-long project will be divided into parts, part one will see the potential candidates submit their original work or covers on Instagram with the #emPawa100 on the 15th of December, 2018 in order to be available for consideration.
Between December, 2018 and January, 2019, the Leg Over crooner will select 100 candidates who qualify as a result of their amazing uploads from 6 African countries which are Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Rwanda (he however said, they are still deliberating on whether to add one more country; Zambia, in the list) whom he will give a grant of 3000USD which will be used for the funding of their videos that will feature on Mr Eazi’s YouTube and Social media platforms.
The judges will then bank on their expertise to select the top 10 of the 100 entrants that will get a chance to be part of a 3-week masterclass in South Africa with the facilitators.
Conclusively, two finalists will be chosen from the masterclass, and they will appear at the Ghana Party in the Park concert in London, next year, in the presence of 8000 attendants and will get a collaboration with Mr Eazi on future projects.
This is a brilliant move by Mr Eazi to give back to the society that made him who he is today. This is an initiative that will give belief to not just the 100 selected candidates but to those who will not be selected and the society in general because it promises to be a continuous project.