Absa gives GIMC shot in the arm
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday August 26, 2022 12:55
The money is a sponsorship deal for the GIMC jazz festival to be held tomorrow (Saturday) at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC).
Festivities for the annual multi-disciplinary event start today (Friday 26) until August 3, 2022. Speaking during the sponsorship announcement Monday, Absa Bank Botswana Acting Managing Director, Krishnan Menon said the agreement to partner and sponsor the jazz festival comes at a time when their focus as a bank is on supporting communities in areas such as arts, culture and sports.
Menon also said the deal form the fundamentals of the bank’s citizenship strategy will be a great opportunity to drive the bank’s brand visibility and strengthen its spirit of Africanacity. “Our partnership this year will allow us to entertain and engage our clients and offer a memorable musical experience at the seventh biggest music festival in Africa, as rated by the Association of African Festivals, while driving our brand visibility and strengthening our spirit of Africanacity,” said Menon.
He said GIMC is an annual festival that showcases local, regional, and international artists in a bouquet of arts and cultural activities. “As a business we were deliberate and took time to understand that some of our customers would appreciate being a part of a world-renowned festival.
Our partnership with GIMC in this year’s exciting Jazz Festival to be held Saturday, 27 August 2022 at the GICC will allows us to entertain and engage with our top clients, nurture, and build client relations and offer our clients a memorable musical experience,” added Menon. Giving an appreciation note, GIMC founder Thapelo Pabalinga said the event has more socio-economic advantages, which extend to the SMME sector as well as the hospitality business. “Our partnership with Absa Bank Botswana and this sponsorship was in alignment to the objectives of both parties, of GIMC striving to be one of the pillar pan-African music and cultural experiences and Absa’s Africanacity brand positioning,” said Pabalinga. He said the event also promotes culture tourism adding that they will do their best that the parties enjoy this partnership.
For his part, Absa Bank Head of Marketing and Corporate Relations Dennis Mambure said as a bank, they pride themselves in investing in assets that have value, particularly as companies emerge from the COVID-19 era. He explained that they have been particularly impressed by what GIMC is doing, in that its festivities promote cultural tourism, which is one of the important drivers of the country’s economy.
He said this aligns with the bank’s strategic intent of partnering with programmes that bring value to the economy and support government policies. The sponsorship from Absa Bank to GIMC comes at a time when many festivals around are struggling for sponsorships. This year’ GIMC festivities marks the eighth edition since it its inception in 2014.