Swift Marketing, a firm that is running the re-branded E-Wallet has assured the nation that they are on a serious business mission and they will not disappoint.

The organisers made the pledge on monday during a press conference at the Central Office of Information in Blantyre where they announced that they are back after a six-year break.

“It’s been a while since we last held the event; the last time we held the event was in 2006. We tried to rebrand and did so in 2008 but we could not roll out. In 2009 we gave the rights to another company but they failed and so we took it back in 2010/2011,” explained the firm’s chairman Felix Njawala, who is also Member of Parliament for Blantyre Kabula.

He said they have been working underground all this time and they are finally ready and are reverting back to E-Wallet, having changed it to Pop Star over the years.

“We are back to E-Wallet because we will not only reflect on music only but we want to capture other talents as well. We will have hip-hop, dancing and then singing competitions,” said Njawala.

Anthony Kafuwa, project coordinator of the event, said the auditions will start on August 5 at Sunbird Mzuzu Hotel before trekking to Sunbird Capital Hotel in Lilongwe on August 12 with Sunbird Mount Soche hosting the last event on August 19.

Njawala however, said the official launch of the event will be on September 1.

“We are not announcing the prizes now but we will do so during the first eviction and this is the time when we will also announce all the other information. We want to make this dramatic,” said.

Asked how much money they will be spending in the event, Njawala said it would be difficult as they were working with several other companies, some of which have provided material support and not cash.

Sunbird’s corporate sales executive Ursula Banda said they have been involved in the process from the beginning hence they were convinced this is a serious project aimed at unearthing talent.

The E-Wallet show has produced several stars in the likes of Randy, Tigris, Amos Mazinyane and Maranatha Katimba.