Nomads start hunt for new sponsor

Be Forward Wanderers have started their search for a new sponsor and have set a three-month target for the task.

The chase for a new partner follows a revelation by their current sponsors, Be Forward Limited, that they will stop bankrolling them from next year due to effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nomads general secretary Victor Maunde was quoted by Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) on Thursday as saying they have already set the ball rolling in the search for a new sponsor.

He said: “We have given ourselves three months and we are looking at multiple potential sponsors to partner us in areas such salaries and bonuses, food and accommodations costs, when playing away.”

Maunde said they have come up with a proposal that outlines how potential sponsors will benefit from partnering the Nomads.

“It will be a partnership whereby we want prospective sponsors to benefit from partnering us. We want to ensure that it should be a win-win situation,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Lali Lubani Road outfit’s chairperson Symon Sikwese said they are also in the process of registering the club as a company.

“Commercialisation is the way to go. We want to run the club as a commercial entity. As a starting point, we will register Wanderers in accordance with the law and a business that will be running side by side with the club,” he said.

Sikwese said among other plans, they will be using the bus they got as a donation from immediate past president Peter Mutharika for commercial purposes.

However, football analyst Humphrey Mvula, who is also the club’s former chairperson, said: “Yes commercialisation is the way to go and has been the only way to go, but like most community football teams, Wanderers has suffered huge levels of inertia coupled with a blurred ownership structure and lack of a long-term stragetic vision about the future of the team.”

He also said the Nomads have failed to utilise the available human resource of former players, officials and availability of a committed base of supporters.

“The availability of the new bus could be the starting point where the team can register a special business vehicle that can kick start this initiative, among other ventures that can explored.

“However the registration of the football team will require greater consultation with all stakeholders and the greater Wanderers family,” said Mvula.

Japanese second-hand vehicle dealers, Be Forward Limited, sponsor the Nomads to the tune of $200 000 (about K150 million) per season.