LACK of sponsorship has been attributed as one of the major reasons why some Zambian sporting disciplines are failing to tick or even host certain events.
Most of the local sports associations have been crying to Government for help after failing to attract support from the corporate world.
It is indeed mind boggling why some of these sports bodies cannot even get sponsorship worth K5,000 from the business world.
Probably, some of our administrators need to learn from the golfers how they seemingly attract a lot of corporate support for any event.
It is very rare to hear of the Zambia Golf Union (ZGU) or any of its affiliates kneeling before Government asking for ‘alms’ to enable them fulfil their obligations.
There must be a reason why the corporate world seem to be comfortable dealing with golf administrators whenever they ask for support. How amazing!
Just yesterday, I witnessed Standard Chartered Bank Zambia putting K138, 000 into hosting of the 2014 Mopani Copper Mines Zambia Open Golf Championship.
This came barely a few days when NFCA Chambishi Mine pumped K80, 000 towards the staging of the inaugural Zambia Professional Ladies Golf tournament.
By the way, NFCA had earlier donated $50,000 to the Mopani Zambia Open Championship.
Some of the factors which lead the business community to partner with the golfing fraternity are accountability, transparency and even the commitment shown by the golf administrators towards their programmes.
The golfers also skilfully appoint some of the respected people in society to spearhead their fundraising ventures.
Take for instance, mining guru, Emmanuel Mutati, who is leading the 2014 Zambia Open Organising Committee (ZOOC), and you can tell from the big amounts pouring into the coffers that the person at the helm is trustworthy and the sponsors feel comfortable to deal with such an individual or indeed group of people.
The story is almost similar at Zambia Motor Sports Association (ZMSA) where winning sponsorship is not much of a hurdle.
Local professional boxing stables have also won the confidence of the corporate world including the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) to some extent.
It is therefore important that our sports administrators take a leaf from the golfers on how they manage their affairs, which are devoid of internal wrangles.
Once they adopt the culture of golfers, I am sure Zambian sport will see a lot of goodwill flowing from the business community. E-mail:malungaf@gmail.com