The Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) is on the hunt for a new sponsor to clothe the national teams in international competitions. Ever since the country’s deal with Puma to dress national athletes came to an end in 2011, the country has not had a long term sponsor.
Speaking in an interview before he left for a trip to China and Europe, BNOC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tuelo Serufho said they are now on the lookout for a long term sponsor for Botswana teams. Going into last year’s 2012 London Olympics, team Botswana roped in Nike as a stop gap sponsor but the sponsorship has since elapsed. “The Nike sponsorship was just for the Olympics.
When we went into that agreement, we were just about to go to the Olympics and needed a sponsor to clothe our teams. We believed that we could not negotiate for a sponsor while under pressure and we thus opted to find a stop gap sponsor with the intention of finding a long term partner after the Olympics,” Serufho explained.
He said with the Olympics now in the past, the BNOC’s journey to find a technical sponsor is on.
“Prior to the Olympics, there were a couple of companies that had shown interest in clothing us, but we could not negotiate as we were under pressure. We will now be revisiting the companies to negotiate potential sponsorships with them,” the BNOC CEO said.
Serufho, who is on an official visit to China where he will meet the Chinese Olympic Committee said while in his visit, he will also take the opportunity to open negotiations with potential sponsors.
“My visit to the Chinese Olympic Committee is aimed at forging technical cooperation with them so that they can help some of our codes. However, while there, I will meet some of the Chinese companies that had shown interest in clothing our teams to see what they can offer. This will just be the beginning of our hunt for sponsors as apart from them, there are still other companies who had offered and we would like to review all offers to see which best suits us,” the BNOC CEO explained.
Among companies that had shown interest in clothing the Botswana team was Nike as well as local clothing giant All Kasi.
Serufho said at the moment that no company is favoured to clothe the team and any agreement will depend on how good the deal offered is.
“We will look at all offers including that of local clothing companies like All Kasi. Our final decision will, however, be based on what each offers. We believe that we have quality athletes and we can give whoever clothes us good mileage, thus we will seek sponsorship that is commensurate with the quality we can offer,” Serufho said.
With Botswana to host the 2nd Edition of Africa Youth Games next year, Serufho said the new technical sponsor will be expected to clothe Botswana’s team for the games. Apart from the games, the new sponsor will also clothe the Botswana team that will represent the country at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics in China as well as the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games to be held in Scotland.
