NAIROBI, Kenya, January 10- Mathare United Football Club (MUFC) will this week sign a sponsorship agreement with security company G4S.
G4S Group Chief Executive Nick Buckles will arrive in the country from London as the company positions itself to take advantage of emerging opportunities in East African market.
The lucrative deal will see G4S become a title sponsor of the former Kenya Premier League (KPL) champions for the purpose of meeting the operational and ancillary costs of the club over next couple of seasons.
G4S on the other hand will receive branding and merchandising rights in all MUFC games. G4S will also provide world-class event consultancy services such as event security, crowd control, secure journey management, and match ticketing among others.
While in Kenya he will also meet key industry officials and customers among government stakeholders.
Buckles’ arrival comes in the wake of another working tour by Jim McDonald, the Director – G4S Events in the United Kingdom in November 2010. McDonald was in the country on the invitation of KPL and tasked with conducting a safety and security audit of local stadia.
This was after a tragic stampede where five fans lost their lives during the match between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards last October.
The security company has since issued seven major recommendations on match security among other measures needed to improve the safety of fans ahead of the 2011 season.
In the UK, G4S provides match day security for numerous top flight clubs with attendances of up to 52,000. G4S also secures high profile events such as the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and Superstar concerts at London’s O2 Arena.
The foregoing indicates an increased focus on the East African security services market by the GBP 7 Billion Company that employs over 38,000 people in East Africa including close to 16,000 members of staff in Kenya.
In January 2010, G4S East Africa, announced expansionist plans targeted at growing its business by over 50 percent in two years through the launch of new markets and products.
The firm has since opened a new office in Ethiopia in addition to current operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi and Madagascar. New services in the pipeline include Secure Journey management, Cash processing centres, Event Security and aviation safety.
In particular G4S Kenya has identified key business areas in outsourced Government services and aims to develop solutions for critical national infrastructure in line with the Kenya Vision 2030 Strategy.
These include Borstal custody services, restricted security-access control and monitoring, secure document retrieval and data security systems among others.