Stanbic recognises local talent, supports community upliftment
Staff Writer | Thursday June 22, 2017 16:52
The Bank on Thursday 15, 2017 rewarded local athletes who excelled in the 21.1km leg of this year’s DGM in a continuation of their effort to promote and nurture local sporting talent even further.
The sponsorship partnership between Stanbic Bank Botswana Corporate and Investment Banking and DGM, now in its second year, will see proceeds from marathon handed over to The African Women Leadership Academy, an NGO that seeks to empower young women, the girl and boy child through networking, mentoring and leadership skills training.
This year’s marathon saw the top performing Motswana male athlete, in the 21.1km race, Rapula Diphoko, clocked in at 01:03:58 beating his 2016 record time.
His female counterpart, Onneile Dintwe, completed her race in 01:20:51. Each received P10, 000 cash prizes for their efforts from Stanbic Bank Botswana, along with sporting merchandise courtesy of the Bank.
“Stanbic Bank is in its sixth consecutive year in partnership with the DGM and third consecutive in which the Bank rewards top performing local athletes who participated in the annual sporting event.
We believe in promoting sporting excellence and instilling a culture of supporting home-grown talent and giving back to the community in which we operate in.
As a corporate citizen, it is our responsibility to seek ways in which we as a Bank can uplift others and we couldn’t be happier to handover proceeds to the value of P116, 00 to TAWLA,” said Sheperd Aisam, head of Corporate and Investment Banking at Stanbic Bank Botswana.
“This year’s Marathon continued to build upon its reputation as the region’s favoured half-marathon event with a record turnout from local, regional and international athletes and amateurs intent doing their very best.
For us, to see Botswana-born athletes running highly competitive times and using this event as a stepping stone to qualify for other major international events is the realisation of everything that we aspired to at the conception of the Diacore Gaborone Marathon.
It gives us even greater pride that the marathon has availed avenues for us to give back to charity,” alluded Thabo Makgato, head of PR and marketing, Diacore Gaborone Marathon.
“We want to ensure Botswana’s athletics talent is truly mined and grown to its full potential.
We hope this gesture goes some way towards helping us achieve the goal of greater access to and development of local sporting talent, allowing us to produce more incredible stars. We believe that empowering these individuals will go some way in uplifting communities,” said Aisam.
Fastest female, Onneile Dintwe, shared her immense gratitude with the Bank. “I am humbled by Stanbic Bank’s prize, as it encourages me to continue to train and to run so that I can get better every year.
Platforms such as these are the springboard to other regional and even international races, and so it is even more motivating that recognition and support are received from the very beginning,” she noted.