In 2020, the Minister of Sports Tumiso Rakgare pleaded with the Botswana Football Association (BFA) to consider working with local brands for its technical sponsorships.
This came after the BFA had gone into a technical sponsorship deal with Umbro in 2019. His plea was in line with the government of Botswana’s ‘Pusha BW’ drive, which encourages the buying of locally produced goods to create jobs.
“Yes. It is true that we long asked BFA to work with Local brands. All kasi and other local brands such as Dlala and MN have demonstrated clearly that given a chance they would grow into big international brands. We therefore need to support them. Also, this helps in the creation of jobs for our people,” explains Rakgare.
Four years later, following the lapse of the Umbro technical sponsorship, local brand, All Kasi, has been announced as the national football team technical sponsor. BFA chief executive officer (CEO) Mfolo Mfolo says “the BFA chose not to continue with Umbro as part of a strategic decision to shift toward supporting local businesses pusha BW.”
“By partnering with All Kasi, the association aimed to boost local industry and promote Botswana’s own brands on a larger stage, aligning with broader national development goals of import substitution and employment creation,” he explains.
Despite this great turnaround of using local brands, the association’s deal with All Kasi has sparked controversy. Contrary to the norm, where a technical sponsor is not paid by the association, the new technical sponsor received payments from the association. This has led to some backlash for the association.
In a recent trending quotation document dated 10 July 2024, the association paid P1 234,339.56 to All Kasi. BFA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mfolo Mfolo however says the association was not paying for the kit. This was rather meant to facilitate a purchase order to enable All Kasi to source funds from financial institutions.
“All Kasi was not paid to produce kits. They assume the whole financial muscle to produce kits for our national teams. The benefits will be on the sale of replicas as it is always the case,” he explains.
However, a source close to the association denies the BFA CEO’s assertions. According to the source, unlike with traditional technical sponsorships where companies provide kits in exchange for selling replicas, the BFA deliberately opted to pay All Kasi for producing the kits.
“This decision reflects the BFA’s support for local businesses while ensuring that the teams are properly equipped. All Kasi will also generate revenue by selling replica kits to the public and BFA will get a certain percentage as agreed by the two parties,” the source says.
When it came to why they took so long to heed to the Minister request to work with local brands, Mfolo says ‘the BFA had to wait for its contract with Umbro to expire before switching to a local supplier.’
“Ending the relationship prematurely could have resulted in legal and financial consequences. Once the contract concluded, the BFA was able to make the transition, which is set to begin with All Kasi’s 3-year contract in 2024,” he explains.
In trying to get further clarity on this deal, this publication reached out to All Kasi founder, Mokaedi Maplanka, but he was unfortunately out of reach.
