Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Five fresh winners have emerged in the monthly draw organised by Heritage Bank and CREAM Platform under the YNSPYRE Initiative.
The event took place last Friday in Abuja in the presence of officials of the financial institution and the premiere creative reward platform in Nigeria.
The Heritage Bank’s YNSPYRE Initiative rewards subscribers who dial the *745*463# code with lots of cash and other prizes.
The winners went home with N200,000 each, while a popular artiste in the country, Mr Oladapo Oyebanjo, otherwise known as D’Banj, promised to fully support their businesses and passion.
Some of those that won at the digital draw such as Blessing (an entrepreneur), Justice Isaac Precious (a footballer and musician) and John (a caterer) expressed joy for emerging winners.
Recall that recently, Heritage Bank doled out N1 million to one Damilola Adeyemi, a winner of an online giveaway competition to celebrate the bank’s product, YNSPYRE, ambassador, D’Banj, which heralded the launching of the YNSPYRE Account.
The CREAM Platform is chaired by D’Banj, who was physically present at the event. Others were the Heritage Bank Regional Executive, Abuja and North, Mr George Okoh-Oboh; popular Nollywood actress, Tonto Dikeh; popular musician, Mr Easi (real name Isaiah Ediae) and other top officials of the bank.
In his remarks, Mr Okoh-Oboh described the partnership between Heritage Bank and CREAM Platform as a game-changer for the creative industry in Nigeria.
“It’s been a smooth journey and the Bank has also set aside certain funds for the creative industry because we believe that is needed to support our youths.
“And so what we have done is to be able to put this out there so that we can select very talented youths working with D’Banj and once they meet certain criteria, we will be able to lend across to them as a bank.
“So, the funds have already been set out and waiting this launch which we are having today. So it’s quite an interesting story for the bank and it’s a great day for us today,” he said.
On his part, D’Banj said that the CREAM Platform has built a strong reputation for producing some of the brightest talents in the country over the last couple of years.
He explained that the purpose of the platform was to have a creative hub for Africa where people can upload their contents, be discovered and get funding support from Heritage Bank.
He said the platform would enable Nigerians to discover their talents in areas such as entertainment, entrepreneurship, music, arts and other areas in the creative industry value chain.
D’Banj expressed optimism that the creative industry if properly harnessed, has the potentials to reduce the level of unemployment in the country, boost wealth creation for the people and help the country generate the much needed foreign exchange.
He noted that with the creative industry accounting for one of the highest exports from Nigeria, the time has come for operators in the sector to be supported with the finances.
“This year will make it five years that the platform was launched and our main aim is to create a gateway to the creative hub of Africa. With so much talent in the country and the hub in the continent, we saw it as a platform for people to have that access to become whatsoever they desire.
“And it’s no news that Heritage Bank is our partner to provide the access and financial help that you will need,” the music act said.
“The creative industry is one of the biggest exports in the last three years now whether you are looking at music, fashion, movies. But we need that financial help, that financial backing.
“So, for a long time, we have been discussing with Heritage Bank to see how we can get the funds and get that help to the people.
“And today is going to be the first time that we are actually rewarding the customers. Heritage Bank went further to help us create the ‘YNSPYRE’ Product.
“This product is for the youths and the creative industry to help ease access to funding contents uploaded on the CREAM Platform,” he added.
In her comments, Ms Dikeh urged D’Banj and the bank to create more awareness about the product to enable many people to take advantage of the initiative.
She said as an advocate of youth empowerment, the initiative would help to harness the potentials of the youths and stimulate the much-needed development of the creative industry.
