12 Feb 2014

Cellular network provider Mascom on Monday, February 10, unveiled a silver sponsorship of P880 000 for the Gaborone 2014, Africa Youth Games.

The sponsorship comprises of P500 000 in cash, while the P380 000 balance will be used to provide data, airtime and sim-packs for athletes, technical officials and volunteers.

After Botswana won the bid to host the Africa Youth Games 2014 in March last year, an organising committee, named the Botswana African Youth Games Organising Committee (BAYGOC), was formed to kick start preparations.  BAYGOC was faced with the mammoth task of raising P25 million for the games.

A clarion call was issued to corporates in Botswana, and Mascom came to the rescue on Monday with a sponsorship of P880 000. Speaking at the sponsorship handover in Gaborone, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Shaw Kgathi commended Mascom for seeing the potential in sports.

Kgathi said preparations for the games were at an advanced stage, adding that the issue of sponsorship required urgent attention. “BAYGOC has embarked on a campaign to source sponsorship from the community. They have so far been to Ghanzi where they were promised cattle. We thank Mascom for the gesture. Sport is a powerful tool and any organisation can prosper by being associated with sports,” he said.

Kgathi said sports in Botswana had grown and promised a brighter future. He urged stakeholders to reduce lavish spending and spend the bulk of the money in sports development.

“I believe there is lot of talent in remote areas that needs to be unearthed. In future we will fund only those codes that promote talent identification. The sports development bill is currently under discussion in Parliament and there is need to speed things up,” he said.

For his part, Mascom CEO, Jose Couceiro said it was through sports that they could engage Batswana and further contribute to Botswana’s Vision 2016 pillar of a united and proud nation. He said sport was important as it could unite the nation, create heroes and touch on the hearts and minds of all ages.

“Sport is part of a country’s national pride. Mascom is involved in several sporting activities. Of the 21 sporting codes that will be played at the African Youth Games, Mascom has sponsored at least six of them at a national level. Mascom has been a part of Botswana sports for the past 16 years of their existence,” he said. ENDS