Nigerian Breweries, Access Bank Partners, Unveils Music Contest ‘Access the Stars’

Nigerian Breweries Plc and Access Bank Plc have partnered to launch a new music talent contest called ‘Access the Stars’ across the country.

According to the organisers, the initiative is aimed at promoting and supporting music talent across Nigeria, through a music talent hunt with a grand prize of N150 million.

Auditions are expected to commence by the end of the year and will be held in Abeokuta, Calabar, Lagos, Owerri, Onitsha and Abuja. The top 10 finalists would be selected to perform across the country with top artists at Star Trek events before a Grand winner is selected.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday about the new show, Access Bank Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe, said that he was delighted about the partnership, saying it would drastically improve and support the entertainment industry and in turn reduce unemployment amongst the youth.

“We are celebrating a very unique partnership with two great institutions to ensure that we support national development and by the time we finish with this exercise, one of the things that we would have done for sure would be to bring out several great talents which in turn would serve as succession for the artistes we have in Nigeria at the moment” he said.

Continuing, he said: “We have about 200 million people with talents, but some do not have the platform to do that and with statistics showing that more than 50% of the population is still unemployed, that statistics can be changed.”

Also, speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Jordi Borrut Bel, said that the talent show would be a platform to unearth raw talents in Nigeria, while adding that the company decided to partner Access Bank in order to ensure the Nigerian economy grows.

“If you look at NB, we have a history of supporting music and talent. We have the star trek event, star quest, star mega jam,” Borrut Bel said explaining what prompted the collaboration.

“So, NB has always been promoting music and talent and so has Access Bank. So, it was only logical that these companies of similar interest come together for ‘Access the star.’

“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 what they need is the opportunity and platform to help achieve that exposure and that we want to give them.”

October 10, 2019