Ghana’s Talent Hunt crowns winner

She emerged victorious in the winner-take-all contest after nine weeks of live evictions, walking away with a prize package including a recording deal worth 100 000 Ghanaian cedi ($17 000). She will be managed by the Richie Mensah-led Lynx Entertainment, which is the home of musicians KiDi and Kuami Eugene.

The competition was organised by local telecom subscription service Tekhype and seeks to serve as a launchpad for undiscovered music talent in the country. Veteran rappers Okyeame Kwame and Reggie Rockstone joined Mensah on the Talent Hunt jury panel.

“The focus of Talent Hunt is to build a talent discovery model targeted at providing exposure to the best emerging talents, while providing access to industry movers and shakers towards a career in their chosen path,” Tekhype business development manager Mark McKenzie Danquah told Music In Africa in October, when the competition was launched.

“With this opportunity, I promise to release music that would be good and make an impact,” Mz Jhay said after winning the competition. “I’m really going to be a force to reckon with in Ghana’s music industry.”

Teckhype managing director Bernard Osei Akoto also charged Mz Jhay to make good use of the prize she won. He also assured her of the company’s support every step of the way.

The organisers say that while the maiden edition of Talent Hunt focused exclusively on music, subsequent competitions will explore dance, stand-up comedy and spoken word, among others art forms.