By Simeon Onderi
It’s all systems go for East Africa’s Got Talent! The show unveiled the four judges in a colorful event at the Coca Cola offices in Upperhill Nairobi on Saturday 13th July. The event’s emcee was Uganda’s comedienne and television star Anne Kansiime, who will be the host of the show.
Jeff Koinange a well known Kenyan journalist is one of the judges on the panel. He is famous for working with various media houses across the globe.
Tanzanian songbird Vanessa Mdee is also one of the judges. She is lauded for being the first ever Tanzanian MTV VJ. She has also hosted the Bongo Star Search. Vanessa has also greatly participated in the Coke Studio 2019 television show.
Also in the lineup of judges is Makeda Mahadeo. She stands tall as the first female Dj in the Rwanda entertainment industry.
Lastly as part of the judges’ panel is none other than Gaetano Kagwa. Gaetano holds great experience in the media scene in the East African region. He has also participated in Big Brother Africa and hosted the Tusker Project Fame Music show.
The judges’ work will be critical as they will analyze and approve all contestants proceeding to each stage of the competition. Each contestant that will not have gotten an approval from the judges would not proceed to the next round in the competition.
The choosing of the judges was fair as they come from the four countries in East Africa that will be part of the show. The show will be broadcast simultaneously in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda with the media partners being Citizen TV, Clouds TV, NBS, and RTV respectively.
With the four judges unveiled, the other notable aspect in the day’s activities was The Coca Cola Company being unveiled as the official refreshment partner of the show across all four participating countries.
Beatrice Nyamari, the Senior Integrated Marketing Communications Manager of Coca Cola South and Eastern Africa Business Unit was among those who attended the event. She stated that Coca Cola has always believed in providing a platform where people can showcase their talents in different areas.
Coca Cola joined Safaricom PLC who are the title sponsors in Kenya and one of the lead sponsors in the East Africa region through their Mpesa brand. They also join the Access-Challenge, who is leading the One by One campaign, which aims at providing universal healthcare and supporting Kenya’s UHC program, Afya Care.
East Africa’s Got Talent show is one where the citizens of each participating country get a chance to showcase their talent and even get to thrive from them. This was a statement from Safaricom’s Chief Financial Services Officer Sitoyo Lopokoyit who was in attendance.
Other key guests in attendance were Clouds Media International CEO Joseph Kusaga. Clouds Media International is the “Got Talent” Franchise holder.
The show is due to start airing on Sunday 4th August 2019 at 8 pm across the four regions(7 pm in Rwanda) and will run for 10 episodes with the semi and grand finale being shot live in Kenya. The winner of the show will walk away with a cool $50,000 which is equivalent to 5 million Kenyan Shillings.