Malawi gets Lottery boost ahead of Tunisia clash
Malawi National football team’s preparations for the swim or sink 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Tunisia were given a timely boost on Wednesday when the Malawi National Lottery made a donation of K500,000 towards the team’s camp expenses and as an incentive to do well.
The company has even gone a step further by pledging to give the Flames a cool K1 million if the team beats Tunisia on 3 September.
Speaking at a news conference at Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Chiwembe Technical centre, the company’s Executive Director Momi Nahum said they decided to come in and assist the team as it prepares for this crucial encounter because good preparations will always yield good results.
“We want the Flames to qualify for Afcon 2012 and we decided to help them as they prepare so that this acts like an incentive because they currently do not have a sponsor. This is also a way of exposing our company which is yet to roll out its operations,” he said.
Nahum added that the company will sit down with FAM at some point to see if they can become the Flames sponsor in future.
“It’s unfortunate that the Flames after all their exploits do not have a sponsor and we will see how to go about that in future but for a start, we have given them K500,000 and have pledged K1 million if the team wins against Tunisia,” Nahum said.
Speaking after receiving the donation, FAM president Walter Nyamilandu thanked the company for the gesture saying this is a step in the right direction in their efforts to get a sponsor for the team.
“This is a timely boost because most companies want to come in when the team does well but are not interested in how the team prepares. The donation will lift the spirits of the players,” Nyamilandu said.
The FAM boss also pleaded with the corporate world to come in now and sponsor the team saying the Flames are a good vehicle that can help market their products and services.
The Malawi National Lottery was recently granted a licence to conduct lottery draws in the country for the next 5 years and will roll out in December this year.
Speaking on the sidelines of the news conference Lotteries boss told Nyasa Times that they will create 3000 jobs for Malawians during five-year period the company will be operating in the country.
He said some key positions of legal and compliance manager, administration manager, marketing and publicity manager, human resources, finance manager and others, have already been advertised.
Nahum said the company’s plan to invest $6 million (more than K900 million), which will see the company’s structures being built throughout the country.
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