IT was a successful entrepreneur that met with the press on Wednesday, outside of his personal musical accomplishment.
Dapo Oyebanjo, otherwise called D’banj, oozes benevolence, grinning from ear to ear, ready to dole out millions of naira at the Renaissance Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, last Wednesday, as the next set of beneficiaries await their rewards for participating in the Creative Reality Entertainment Arts Music (CREAM).
It was the one year anniversary event of CREAM, his innovative digital talent hunt platform, in partnership with MTN.
His excitement is understandable. Not only is he succeeding in the project that has boycotted the usual ‘godfatherism’ chain and lifted the talents of several youths across the country, who may not have the opportunity of being heard, D’banj took a loan of N50 million from the Bank of Industry, and paid back in less than one year. This was a record-setting feat to the DFI among other beneficiaries of its creative industry fund scheme.
D’banj said he conceived the CREAM idea because “I was being inundated right, left and centre by people who wanted to ‘blow’. It was a time too that I wanted to reach out to those talents in Ogbomoso, Langtang and everywhere else who could not come to Lagos to achieve their dreams but have the talent and passion to do music.” He added, “I wanted a platform that can help find creative talent from anywhere in Africa and give them a fair chance of making their creative dreams come true, from the comfort of their homes.”
CREAM, thus, started with a mission to offer a veritable platform for uncut musical talents across the country to have their songs recorded and released, shoot musical videos for deserving up and comers and help unknowns secure collaboration with established acts. At the outset in September 2016, there were only a few hundreds of tentative subscribers on the platform.
By July 2017, D’banj sensationally revealed that the CREAM platform had grown into a staggering 2million subscriber base and is now worth an estimated $100million. While the first set of beneficiaries on the platform were Rayce, TK Swag, MKJ, Leke Benson and Legend Courage, the lives of many other subscribers have altered dramatically with cash prizes ranging from N50, 000 to N1million during the monthly draws.
He also used the occasion of the anniversary to dispel insinuations that CREAM is a scam. “I have a great team of judges and A n R which includes Godwin Tom and Harrysongs, Ice Prince, Wande Coal, to help mentor the artistes we are bringing on board. So, it’s not a lottery platform, the lottery part of it is just an added incentive. The winners are usually chosen by judges so even if I help the artistes shoot a video, they still need to make money, look good and move around, and for those who have already received their money, they know it is not a scam.”
Speaking on the challenge of the initiative, he said the widespread distrust in the country makes some winners doubt even their own winnings.
“Some people have been registering on the CREAM platform and winning prizes ranging from a million naira to N50, 000, but I noticed that whenever we call the artistes to inform them of winning huge amounts of money, they become scared and don’t bother coming to claim their prizes, it is understandable because of the present situation of the country. They think it is a scam, they think it’s unreal, but I am here to tell you that it is not a scam, I have invited them here for you to see.”
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