SportPesa Chief Executive Officer Ronald Karauri during a past event. PHOTO/File
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 17 – Betting firm SportPesa will tomorrow night battle it out with international giants for top accolades in the fourth edition of the Discovery Sports Industry Awards.
SportPesa has been nominated in two categories; Best African Sponsorship for its support to the grassroots league Super 8, the national womens’ football team Harambee Starlets and the men’s team Harambee Stars; and the Pan African Campaign of the year category for its Made of Winners campaign.
The DSIA fetes companies and sports agencies which have done exemplary work in the business of sport and showcases all the great work done every year by nominees and winners.
This year’s awards will take place on Thursday evening at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The betting company is nominated alongside Barclays (Barclays Premier League), and Safricom (Safaricom Marathon) in the Best African Sponsorship category and Barclays (Barclays Premier League – Switch to Better) in the Pan African Campaign of the Year category.
The sponsorships to Harambee Stars and Starlets are under the four-year partnership deal between SportPesa and the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) which runs up to year 2020. The deal entails sponsorship of all national teams under the federation.
In last year’s DSIA awards, SportPesa became the first Kenyan brand to win the Best African Sponsorship Award for its support to the Kenyan Premier League.
They beat Mauritius’ corporate bank AfrAsia, global logistics firm DHL, Kenya’s communication giant Safaricom, South Africa’s major brewer SABmiller which signed a three-year partnership deal with FC Barcelona and London-based diamond mining firm Gem Diamonds.
SportPesa’s support to the Super 8 upgraded the competition from a tournament to a league in 2015 as more teams signed up for the contest which has so far unearthed many talented footballers.
Other beneficiaries of their sponsorship, Harambee Starlets, had an impressive run last year culminating in their debut at the African Women Cup of Nations that was held in Cameroon between November 19 and December 3, 2016.
Kenya’s position in global football improved as the country moved up ten slots in March’s FIFA world rankings for the men’s national teams to position 78 and retained the slot in April’s rankings. Results for May will be released next month.
