BNOC urged to seal sponsorship deals on time
Calistus Kolantsho | Thursday November 24, 2016 16:07
Speaking at the BNOC sponsors appreciation dinner on Tuesday night, Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited (BIHL) board chairperson, Bakwena Oitsile said sponsors deserve to be given mileage when they decide to sponsor national teams.
“It is our duty as corporates to understand that the government cannot do it alone and our athletes need our support especially from grassroots level, hence the need to identify talent and nurture if from a young age,” he said.
The ceremony was meant to appreciate organisations that assisted the team that participated at the Rio 2016 Olympic games, being the Choppies Group, University of Botswana, Botswana Insurance Company (BIC), and the government through the then Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture (MYSC).
The Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Youth Development (MYESCD, Kefentse Mzwinila said his ministry was tasked with preparing the team for Rio.
He said at the same time they had other competing needs such as the Botswana 50th independence celebrations. He said at the same time, they had to make sure that the team was well resourced.
“In developed countries, sport is less depended on the government. It is mostly supported by the private sector.
There are many benefits of investing in sport for you as the business community. I challenge you to make sport to be part of your Community Social Responsibility (CSR).
Our role as the government should be to facilitate,” Mzwinila said.
He said local athletes such as Baboloki Thebe and Karabo Sibanda have shown the potential to dominate the world.
He said the time was right for the private sector to start assisting athletes to prepare for the 2018 Commonwealth and Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.
Mzwinila suggested that Botswana should benchmark from countries that also have high medal tallies in international competitions.
For his part, BNOC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho said Botswana had sent the largest team ever to the Olympics.
He said they had set themselves a target of two medals but unfortunately that did not happen.
However, Serufho said the team performed better than all teams that ever represented Botswana at the Olympic stage.
“Sponsors, you have planted a seed and come 2017, you will start to reap the rewards. Botswana will be shining on the world stage,” he said.