The occassion was meant to celebrate and honor companies that partnered with and sponsored the BNSC and its National Sport Associations (NSAs) for the financial year, 2021/2022.
The Platinum award was for a company that has spent P4 million in sports. Giving the key note address, Debswana managing director, Andrew Motsomi said Vision 2036 envisages sport as a sector that has the potential to contribute to the economy and drive the pride of the nation and promote unity.
“You will agree with me that the recent stellar performance by our national athletics team in Budapest, Hungary, is one case where the country was unified in purpose and united in sports. We are celebrating companies and individuals that have made real change through intentional commitment to develop sport.
We are aware that your kindness is to a large extent not only driven by brand proposition, but for the love for sport and country,” Motsomi said. To the business community, Motsomi said supporting sport comes with many benefits. He said the sport sector is one of those that have the greatest potential to contribute to economic development and further create employment opportunities. He said sport value chain can ignite other sectors such as transport, travel and tourism. Motsomi said when local athletes are called during podium finishes and the name, Botswana is mentioned, it is an incredible opportunity to brand the country and raise awareness for tourists to visit Botswana. “I wish to challenge the BNSC and its network of associations to add impetus to adopting a sustainable commercialization model through monetizing some of its initiatives such as promoting athletics events internationally in an effort to optimize the sport value chain.
This will ensure a sustainable BNSC business model which is not entirely dependent on sponsorships and annual grants alone to survive,” he said. Motsomi said Debswana continues to play a big role in the development of sport in Botswana. He said to date, Debswana has spent over P30 million in sport development in the past five years alone.
Other awards: Gold: First National Bank Botswana (FNBB), Orange Botswana and ABSA bank. Silver: Umbro, Lactalise Botswana, Diamond Trading Company Botswana, Chinese Embassy, Nike, Metropolitan Life Botswana, Stanbic Bank Botswana, Ba Isago University, LUCARA Botswana and Phoenix Botswana. Bronze: Botswana ASH, Afroworld Impex and O3 Bevarages.
