RTP to take over Africa
The Radio and Television Personality (RTP) Awards may be much maligned by critics but its orignator, Prince Mackay is unfazed as he sets his sights on making his event the biggest of its kind on the African continent.
Late last year, Prince Mackay, who heads Big Events Ghana , which organises the RTP Awards said he was expanding the scheme to a number of African countries including Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia and even to the UK.
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And he is on course as he recently launched the RTP Awards in Kenya. The launch took place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Speaking with Showbiz, Mackay said he had always harboured the dream of making the awards one of the biggest intercontinental schemes so he was never deterred by the opposition he has faced.
“I never listened to doubters and critics because I knew what I wanted to do right from the start. People did not give us a chance but we kept moving and although we had to go through some learning curves, we have improved and become better. The critics have been silenced and the award has grown even bigger,” he said.
Explaining how the RTP Awards landed in Kenya, Mackay said some investors from the country approached him to hold a version of the awards there.
“Growth is a necessary part of any business venture and over the years, we have been rebranding from RTP Awards to RTP Awards Africa to reflect our expanding focus.
Through hard work we are now a pan-African brand and we are constantly having meetings to expand to more African countries,” he added.
On how the awards will be run in Kenya he said, “RTP is among the most credible awards in the country and we will be using the same format as we do in Ghana.
The awards in Kenya will be presided over by a technical committee. Winners of the various categories will be adjudged based on the judgement of the technical committee as well as public votes.”
The Kenyan version of the awards would be organised by Big Events Kenya, he disclosed.
TV personality, Nana Aba Anamoah, won the topmost award, RTP Personality of the Year, at the seventh edition of the awards which came off last year at the Accra International Conference Centre.
She also won TV Female Newscaster and TV Female Presenter awards.