Lady Dentaa Amoateng MBE, Chief Executive Officer of GUBA Enterprise, has hinted at the establishment of Africa Grammy Awards by 2030.

The initiative was first announced in 2024, with Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Rwanda announced as hosts.

“It’s going to be a long process because it [the awards] needs to establish that membership. So it’s something that is going to happen maybe 2029, 2030. It’s going to take a while. Africa is big and there are a lot of different genres of music,” Dentaa told Hitz FM.

“There is a financial commitment that is involved which is quite heavy for government, so that is why some of the countries have not been able to be part of it,” she added, explaining her native Ghana's omission as host, despite a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

Originating in the United States of America, a Latin Grammy Awards was first held on September 13, 2000, to celebrate audio art performed in Spanish and Portugese, and other related languages, from the Latin music industry. The 2025 edition will take place on November 13.

For the envisioned Africa Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy, organisers of the awards, have signed agreements with ministries of culture and stakeholders in Africa and the Middle East. For two years, the academy visited the said regions, holding listening sessions, meeting governments and engaging music creators to appreciate the prospect.

The CEO of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr., remarked, “This is exciting because music is one of humanity’s greatest natural resources.

“It is critical that the people who dedicate themselves to creating music have support, resources and opportunities, no matter where they are from.”

During a 2022 visit to Ghana, via his Ghanaian-British consultant Dentaa, Mason Jr. had noted the academy was seriously considering the best way to spotlight Africa's exciting music scene.

In the US, the 2023 Grammy Awards saw the introduction of a brand new Best African Music Performance category, highligting genres like Highlife and Ghanaian (Kumerican) Drill. South Africa's Tyra became the inaugural winner via her megahit Water.