27 July 2017
Debmarine Namibia came to the rescue of a financially struggling Netball Namibia with a sponsorship of N$1.8 million for a period of three years.
Netball Namibia will receive N$600 000 each year from the diamond-mining company until the contract ends.
The code has become the second recipient of a lucrative sponsorship from the company after the Namibia Football Association (NFA) also received a sponsorship last year.
The funds will be used for staging a senior national championship and an annual five-nation tournament which will see Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe challenging for top honours.
N$10 000 will be distributed to the 14 regional leagues, while the other funds will be used for administration.
Debmarine CEO Namibia Otto Shikongo believes that the sponsorship will make young people’s dreams a reality.
“At Debmarine Namibia, we believe in social investment as a means of making diamond dreams a reality.
“These two sponsorships will without doubt foster socio-economic benefits for communities.
“Partnerships are the cornerstones of our businesses and therefore through these sponsorships we show our commitment towards supporting the government,” Shikongo told reporters at a media briefing yesterday. Netball Namibia’s president Lydia Mutenda thanked the mining company.
She said the sport had faced difficulties after many potential sponsors closed their doors on them.
Mutenda assured Debmarine Namibia that Netball Namibia would account for every cent of the sponsorship.
“It is a great honour to extend our gratitude to Debmarine Namibia for liberating Netball Namibia.
“We ran like wounded dogs for days looking for sponsors and got rejections after rejection.
“We commit to making this sponsorship a success and we will not disappoint our sponsors,” Mutenda said. Deputy minister of sport Agnes Tjongarero urged Netball Namibia to use the funds appropriately and lauded Debmarine Namibia for coming on board.
Namibian Sun – https://www.namibiansun.com/news/debmarine-rescues-netball-namibia
