First fashion reality show debuts in Lagos
Project Manager, Dynamic Reality, Anthony Adeniyi; Patron, Senator Florence Ita Giva and the Executive Producer, Thierry Kome during the unveiling of the TV reality show in Lagos.
Unveils Ita Giwa As Patron
For the first time in Nigeria’s history, a TV reality show aimed at giving a platform to young girls between 18 and 27 has been birthed in Lagos.
Essentially, the Dynamic Pageant reality show is aimed at scouting for aspiring models as they compete against one another to win lucrative career opportunity in the modelling industry. It is sponsored by Dynamic City Models, Manchester, United Kingdom.
The Executive Producer, Thierry Kome said he launched the show in response to the need to raise more black models that can represent brands.
At the unveiling of the show at the Echoes of Calabar, Victoria, Lagos, Kome said as the demand for models and pageants rises there will be need for modelling agencies out of Africa to become better organised and create contests that have a wider audience reach.
To Kome, modeling and pageantry, by virtue of their inherent glamour and popularity, also provide a springboard to the larger entertainment and media industry.
He, however, lamented that the space lacks a champion platform that can bring players together and take the lead in paving the way forward like the Project Fame, Nigerian Idols did for music at the turn of the millennium. He said the Dynamic Pageant was designed to perform the pivotal role.
“My journey with this started in Manchester where I opened a modelling company. The main purpose was to incorporate more Africans into the modelling industry, but it seems I got it wrong because almost 90 per cent of the people coming to apply for modelling jobs were European, and when you look at the population of Africans in the UK, it is exploding. I thought we should have a large number of Africans in the modelling industry. So I started looking for answers and started travelling to African countries. But Lagos in particular has always been in my mind because of its uniqueness; I see Lagos as the New York of Africa.
“But when I came in, I found out that there is stigmatisation of models, lack of enlightenment, and the industry is not as big as the movie and music industries. The challenges made me to think of how to make modelling be at par with others. The first hurdle was to get a team that I can work with, and thank God for Anthony, Azuka Ogujiuba and others. We were able to get a team together.
“We realised that there had never been any reality TV show that embodies modern models. So, we decided to go that route to see how we can shine light and bring the models that are aspiring into the market,” Kome explained.
On the type of models the brand is looking for, the Cross River State-born entrepreneur said: “We are giving the platform to whoever wishes to become a model. After auditioning, 25 contestants will be going into the house. They will be housed for eight weeks.
“The prize includes money. We are still putting a cap on the money but the winner will also go home with a car. Another thing is that Dynamic City Model in the UK will incorporate the winner.”
On what attracted her to the project, the Patron, Senator Florence Ita Giwa said: “I’m interested in any human development project, especially the girl child. I develop children in their totality, giving them confidence and upholding family values.
“There is nowhere worse than the creek of Bakassi. My fulfilment in life is not because I won four elections as a politician, it is people that I have developed.
“Some kids would have perished in the creek, become militants, and died in the sea. Some girls would have been abused because in the creek there’s no activity than procreation. So, once a girl reaches the age of puberty, they impregnate her.
Till today, I have not seen a Naomi Cambel in Nigeria. I hope from this project, a model at that level will be produced.”
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