TAFIC gets P25, 000 for promotion
Chakalisa Dube | Friday May 10, 2019 15:11
TAFIC chairperson, Carlos Sebina said the company had been assisting the team in various ways throughout the successful season.
“The company has been assisting us in various ways for sometime. They had promised that they would give us the money if we gain promotion. They have delivered on their promise,” Sebina said. The company would also pay a fee for having its name on the team’s jersey for the upcoming season. He said the intention is to have more companies’ logos on the team’s jersey as a marketing strategy and a way of raising revenue.
“We have to be innovative and leverage on the popularity of the TAFIC brand if we want to raise enough funds that can help the club survive in the Premier League.
We have tabled a few proposals to companies to have their logos appearing in our jersey and we are hopeful that they will respond positively before the season starts,” Sebina explained.
He further noted that the club’s awards billed for next month will also be one way of raising funds and presenting to the public a clean, rejuvenated TAFIC brand, which sponsors and various stakeholders can associate with.
In the past, there has been criticism that TAFIC’s failure to attract sponsors is due to internal politics. The chairperson emphasised the need to partner with various service providers such as transport and hospitality companies in order to help sustain the club.
He said the club is almost ready to meet club licencing requirements, which is a pre-requisite for a team to participate in the premier league. The club has been operating from an office donated by one of the Francistown-based security companies. “The good thing is that professionals such a doctors who are a requirement for the club licensing will be assisting us on a voluntary basis which will help us reduce our wage bill,” he said. “We will soon be re-negotiating contracts with our players so that they conform to club licensing requirements. We are just left with touch-ups with regards to meeting club licensing requirements.”
Sebina said the club is in the process of finalising its budget for the Premier League campaign.
He added that the club is working on securing a few seasoned players as well as drawing a strategy that would help the popular Francistown side avoid alternating between the Premier League and the First Division.
“The technical team is still working on identifying the players who they think we should sign,” he said.