By Sodeinde Temidayo David
Auditions for season 8 of the Nigerian entrepreneurial reality show, The Next Titan, is set to commence next week in six major cities across the country, the organisers have said.
According to the Executive Producer of the show, Mr Mide Kunle Akinlaja, the auditions will start next week in Port Harcourt before moving to Abuja, Enugu, Lagos, Ibadan and Kano.
He also added that the screening would be hybrid as intending contestants who would not be available for the physical auditions would be allowed to screen online.
According to him, Season 8 is a Special Edition as it gives an opportunity for funding from Nigeria Investment Youth Fund (NYIF), an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.
The top 1,000 contestants from the auditions, with good business ideas and with registered businesses, will automatically qualify for N3,000,000 funding while unregistered businesses will qualify for N250,000.
Mr Akinlaja stated that 50 persons would be selected for the main show and will enter the boot camp, where the number would be pruned to 16 final contestants with the brightest ideas.
It was disclosed that these contestants would be nominated to live together and compete by carrying out weekly business tasks and challenges around the city of Lagos for 10 weeks.
As the programme progresses, the number would be reduced through weekly evictions in the boardroom by the judges, leaving the winner will go home with N15 million to start a dream business of choice.
The Next Titan was designed to assist young Nigerian entrepreneurs by identifying the best business minds and supporting their entrepreneurial acumen through logistical assistance, informal training, knowledge and other requisite services needed to propel them into successful personalities.
The sponsors for this year’s edition include Heritage Bank, Air Peace, Haven Homes, Sifax Group, Lifemate Furniture, RC Cola, Milky Taurus Limited, Terra season cubes, Cummins Generators, and Premium Box.
Every contestant is expected to register with Msport before proceeding with the registration of the show as a Msport verification code would be requested.