Bakhresa ups Tigers sponsorship

 

Bakhresa Grain and Milling Company Limited has braved prevailing macroeconomic environment to up Azam Tigers’ annual sponsorship from K6 million to K9 million (about $36 000).

Bakhresa releases the funding monthly. With the 50 percent increase, the monthly allocation has jumped from K500 000 (about $2 000) to K750 000 (about $3 000), the company’s human resources manager Richard Tchereko confirmed on Tuesday.

“In addition, in order to encourage the players this season, we will also be giving the team K50 000 (about $200) for a win and K25 000 (about $100) for a match that ends in a draw. To comment on the Super League so far, it is too early, but in general, the team looks well prepared and we wish them all the best,” Tchereko said in a statement.

The additional per-game package is outside the K9 million and if Tigers win their remaining TNM Super League games and cup matches, they could earn over K1 million (about $4 000). Kau Kau have started the campaign with a win, draw and loss.

Tigers’ general secretary Geoffrey Kachale on Tuesday said the increase would help cushion the effects of the recent kwacha devaluation on the teams’ annual budget which the club’s board of directors supplements. It costs some K30 million (about $120 000) to run a modest Super League team annually.

“Most companies are struggling and for Bakhresa to still sponsor us, it shows their undoubted commitment to our football cause,” Kachale said, adding that they have set winning the Super League championship and another trophy as this season’s target.

In an interview on Tuesday, Tchereko seemed to agree with Kachale that “the company is still struggling, but this is just our commitment to sports which the company has always been associated with.”

Bakhresa increased sponsorship comes a week after Carlsberg Malawi Limited took over Big Bullets and Mighty Wanderers funding. Apart from the three, Silver Strikers are the other Super League team sponsored by the private sector.

More grateful was the Super League of Malawi (Sulom), that through their general secretary Williams Banda, said Bakhresa’s funding “will go a long way in improving competition in the league and the national team. We, therefore, urge Tigers to promote Bakhresa brand.”

Other teams without a sponsor are Escom United, Blantyre United, Kabwafu United and Bvumbwe Research.