In order to protect the good status of its cricket pitch from attracting other sports discipline enthusiasts, management of Mpingwe Sports Club in Limbe decided to construct a special outdoor arena to cater for 6-aside football and as well as hockey players.
The special arena was officially inaugurated over the weekend with pomp and ceremony through a 10-team 6-aside football tournament that was supported by NICO Group at K5 million sponsorship.
Mpingwe’s Shiraz Zaveri
The 10 teams comprised members of Mpingwe Sports Club but management anticipates to organise more such tournaments open to other non-member teams in order to enhance social and entertainment activities.
The club’s executive committee member, Shiraz Zaveri — who was lead organisers of the event that included cricket and indoor football matches for youths — said they were very grateful of NICO’s support, saying it cements their business partnership.
“We are members of NICO Group’s various services and we are hoping that this fruitful mutual partnership will continue years to come,” he said.
“We came up with this initiative in order to protect our cricket pitch which is supposed to be in pristine condition because when football and hockey players use it, they damage it through the spikes on their playing boots.
“We had to facilitate this arena to satisfy the desire to play other sports disciplines, which now adds more attraction for our members to continue patronising our club in large number during weekends,” Zaveri said.
NICO’s Relationship Manager Lumbani Nyirenda
NICO’s Relationship Manager, Lumbani Nyirenda said they decided to support the event after being approached, saying this was an appreciation of the business which the membership of Mpingwe Sports Club provide to the Group.
“This is our show of gratitude for trusting in us and we are looking towards a solid partnership,” he said.
NICO Group, through its subsidiary NBS Bank, also supported sports when they sponsored Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Charity Shield, whose proceeds went towards gradual home repatriation from relief camps of flood victims of Cyclone Ana in Chikwawa.
In partnership with Malawi Red Cross Society, NBS Bank and FAM delivered relief food items to the flood victims from the K10.3 million proceeds realised from the FAM Charity Shield.
The food items, that included maize flour, nutritious beef soya pieces and ready-mix Likuni Phala with sugar, were distributed to 986 households that represents 4,930 people, who are in four relief camps of Nthumba (326); Medrum (250); Nanchinchi (150); and Tomali Admarc (26)— all in the jurisdiction of three traditional chiefs; Kasisi; Mlilima and Lundu respectively.
Last April, the country’s giant financial service provider, also sponsored K1.98 million for the reconstituted Public Universities Staff Sports Association (PUSSAM) to hold capacity building symposium amongst its executive committee members following the delinking of University of Malawi (UNIMA).
PUSSAM was originally the University of Malawi Staff Sports Association (UMSSA) and following the delinking of its constituent colleges into the University of Malawi (UNIMA); Kamuzu College of Health Science (KUHES); Malawi University of Business & Applied Sciences (MUBAS); Malawi University of Science & Technology (MUST); Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) and Mzuzu University — it was reconstituted to PUSSAM.
NICO Group is always involved in social corporate responsibility initiatives by support education, health and other sectors and played in huge role in supporting the government in the fight against CoVID-19 pandemic right from its onset.
