20 Sep 2015

Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) has given awards to several companies. Speaking at the sponsor’s night, BNSC chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng said interest in the business of sport by outside parties had been growing over the years.

He said BNSC had entered a new dispensation in which it would seek to transform the sporting industry into a more professional one, noting that they could only achieve that through the sponsors’ continued support.

“To this day, we have recorded excellent performance in the field of play, I can therefore hasten to mention names such as Mogakolodi ‘Tsotso’ Ngele and Ofentse Nato who play professional football,” he added.

Furthermore, he said Isaac Makwala and Nijel Amos were also professional runners, Alister Walker a professional squash player, football coach, Major David Bright was based in South Africa, while Mothusi Phokoje, an umpire in basketball, had also joined the professional leagues in South Africa.

He said Botswana had witnessed growth within sport codes, adding that the recent performances at the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa and of the Special Olympics at Los Angeles World Games  was a clear manifestation of evolution.

Over and above the elite performance, he said they needed to continue to recognise and nurture talent through development programmes such as Re Ba Bona Ha.

Reikeletseng said he had observed that none of the big players in the business industry wanted to be beaten to the current spectre, adding in the past, it was not usually for companies to put sponsorship deals in the regions of millions for development of sport.

This, he said, might had been borne of the notion that sport was probably viewed as pass time activity, adding that of late high capital investment in sport was not unusual.

“We can now realise that stakes are indeed high, I therefore wish to comment those who have set the pace and encourage those who are still considering the move to join the elite investors in sport,” he said.

Mascom won the platinum award as the overall sponsor.  Ends