Illovo resume bankrolling Nchalo United: Pumps in K24mil

 Illovo Sugar Limited has relaunched it’s commitment towards sponsoring Nchalo United Football club by releasing K24 million as first sponsorship package.

  Speaking during the presentation of the first sponsorship package to the club in Nchalo, General Manager for Illovo Sugar Limited Ken Tembo said they have  decided to resume their support towards the club having realised a number of challenges the club has been going through.

“We have realised that the club is failing to achieve its targets due to financial challenges. We  felt it is our obligation to support where we operate as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility,” said Tembo.

Tembo also hinted that Illovo intends to bankroll both Dwangwa and Nchalo United football club on longterm plans.

“Our support towards both Nchalo and Dwangwa United F.C is open. As long as there is financial prudence in these clubs, this partnership can go a long way. It’s easy to sponsor football than any other sport and we feel most people love football. We will not interfere in the operations of these clubs but what we want from them is to share their success stories,” he said.

In his remarks, Chairman for Nchalo F.C Peter Chiyipamthengo commended Illovo Sugar Limited management for coming to their rescue.

” This is a big relief on our part as those overseeing the operations of this great club. We hope it is timely and it will propel us to bounce back in the top flight league. Imagine we failed to participate in the southern region football league 2 years ago due to financial constraints. This is like God’s answer to our  prayers,” said Chiyiphamthengo.

Illovo Sugar Limited stopped sponsoring both Nchalo and Dwangwa F.C in 2006. Recently, the company donated K40 million to Dwangwa F.C.

Tembo said they initially pulled out the sponsorship to allow it run by independent people and paving way for the club’s commercialization.

He said much as they stopped sponsoring the team, the Nchalo based side was still using the entity’s facilities and last year they provided the club with a minibus to ease their mobility challenges.

“The idea was to let it go commercial in respect to Football Association of Malawi’s call for club licensing and commercializarion. We know how the team performed with the sponsorship and we have equally seen how the team has performed with the sponsorship.

“However, we noticed some gaps and needs that eventually compelled us to give them money. We want the team to return to the Super League and bring backs its lost glory and become a force to reckon with. The side has deprived Nchalo community of top football,” said Tembo.

According to him, soccer is one of activities that cut across the society and largely unite people regardless of their dissenting views.

“We need to be identified with our immediate surrounding and soccer is one activity that cut across the society, We want the locality to enjoy the game of fooball.

“We can always use football to instill good behaviour and discipline among young people. Soccer is just like any other business entity, so we are expecting good results and we are looking forward to seeing the success of the team,” said Tembo.

He also took trouble to advise the leadership of the team to use the funds accordingly and further warned them against violence and any any unsporting behavior.

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