There appear to be exciting days ahead for the Nigerian entertainment world as Valentine Ozigbo, a Nigerian business mogul and philanthropist, launches a virtual talent contest tagged Anambra Talent UNLOCKED.
While addressing a group of supporters at Oba in Idemili Council Area of Anambra State, Mr. Ozigbo explained that he launched the contest which is open to indigenes and residents of Anambra State, because he believes that the pool of talent that abounds in the state need an opportunity for expression.
“Riding off the impressive success of our Freestyle UNLOCKED Africa 2020 contest, our Foundation thought it necessary to extend our UNLOCKED brand to the entertainment world.
“We made history in freestyle football last month when we succeeded at doing what we set out to do, which was to UNLOCK the UNLIMITED human potential by exploring and exploiting technologies to overcome the barriers of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“Pulled by this grand vision of our Foundation, we are replicating this concept and extending the opportunity to Ndi Anambra to overcome the challenges of the times and be discovered, cultivated, and celebrated,” Ozigbo, who is the immediate past President and Group CEO of Transcorp Plc, said.
While explaining why he decided to focus on developing entertainment at a time when many televised talent hunts have been halted, Ozigbo extolled the power of the arts and popular culture in shaping society.
“I firmly believe that the arts play a unique role in the renewal of the collective consciousness of our people; a revival that is important and urgent if we are to walk into the bigger, better, and brighter future of our dreams.
“Through performing, visual, and literary arts, our talents can send messages of equality, kindness, and altruism that will resonate in the hearts and minds of our people. When these happen, the sense of perfection that is in every one of us is stirred and made manifest,” the business leader said.
According to a statement published by the Valentine Chineto Ozigbo (VCO) Foundation, the contest is open to people from Anambra State who live in Nigeria or residents of the southeastern State.
Contestants who wish to participate will have to record a one-minute video of their performance in any of the four categories, music, dance, drama, or comedy and email the video to the talenthunt@vcofoundation.org.
Various cash prizes totalling N500,000 are to be won in what promises to be the first of its kind in the country.
Anambra Talent UNLOCKED is a platform for indigenes of Anambra in four performing arts – drama, dance, music, and comedy, to showcase their unique talent, sponsored by Valentine Chineto Ozigbo (VCO) Foundation.
Mr. Ozigbo is one of the leading aspirants in the forthcoming Anambra gubernatorial election. He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party.
