Times Of Swaziland: ‘Y’ELLO’ E320 000 FOR BASKETBALL

‘Y’ELLO’ E320 000 FOR BASKETBALL
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BY SANELE JELE on 15/06/2019 00:00:00


EZULWINI – Giant mobile company MTN Eswatini has pumped close to E900 000 into
basketball in just about three years.
In total, the mobile company has sponsored the Swaziland National Basketball
League to a tune of E870 000 in three years. Yesterday, the partnership was
renewed with a whopping E320 000 package. This shows an increment of E20 000
when compared to last year’s sponsorship of E300 000. In the first edition,
MTN Eswatini pumped in E250 000.
Announcing the good news during the launch, which was held at the company’s
head offices in Ezulwini, was the Chief Marketing Officer, Sylvia Otuo
Acheampong, who said the company was committed to supporting the passion of
customers of which basketball is one of them.
“Our main focus is to harness talent, grow them and put them in a professional
environment through our continued support to enable the SNBA to actually get new
talent into the pool,” Otuo Acheampong said.
Meawhile, SNBA President Nhlanhla Maphanga thanked MTN for the continued
support.
“Since our partnership with MTN, the sport has grown in leaps and bounds. We
have witnessed quite a lot of player movement, each player striving to move to a
team that will give them more playing time or the opportunity to win the
prestigious prize,” Maphanga said.
He said the new package would introduce prizes for national schools
championships, best media coverage and, wheelchair basketball activities. Women
basketball activities are also lined up.
“The year 2019 brings so much more that we now see the opportunity of reaching
His Majesty’s 2022 Vision of First World status in basketball. The SNBA family
would like to thank MTN wholeheartedly for being the major and pivotal player in
making basketball the next preferred sport in the kingdom,” he said.
“Through this relationship, we believe soon our sport will be one of the
preferred choices in schools, households and the nation at large. With that, we
would also like to thank His majesty’s government through the Minister, the
council and Olympic office for their continued guidance and support in helping
us grow stronger,” he added.
support
Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga said
MTN Eswatini’s continued support proved the company’s commitment to
developing sport.
“From the onset, it is clear that MTN Eswatini is concerned with developing
just about every aspect of Emaswati’s lives. We have seen the company’s role
in developing of other sporting codes, which include golf, cycling and
soccer,” he said.
Present during the launch was the Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs
Bulunga, Eswatini Sports Council CEO Darius Dlomo and executive members of the
SNBA.
The champions last year were Superstars in the Elite Men’s League while
Superladies were National’s Women League champions. Langalam Dunkylaine won in
the Men’s Promotional League.