It's 'business strategy'

Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) has once again defended its sponsoring of teams outside of Namibia. This is after a recent outcry about its sponsorship of Zambia's rugby sevens team, while their Namibian counterparts are playing without a main benefactor.The teams recently met at the Rugby Africa Sevens tournament in Tunisia, where the Zambian team wore branded NBL shirts.This caused a huge uproar on social media, with people questioning the loyalty of the company towards Namibia.NBL has, however, maintained that most of their sponsorships are geared toward local sport, and that they only sponsor teams outside Namibia to build their brand in the targeted countries.“The vast majority of NBL's sponsorship is allocated to local sport. However, as any good businessman or entrepreneur will know, when you want to grow your brand, you need to invest behind it and it is this business reason that sees NBL brands feature in markets where we wish to expand our footprint,” said NBL managing director Wessie van der Westhuizen.The Windhoek Draught Welwitschias and the Tafel Lager Brave Warriors are currently the biggest beneficiaries of NBL's support of local sport. The company, however, refused to disclose the value of its sponsorships, saying this is “sensitive information”.“While we are not in a position to reveal the full sponsorship amount, we can assure you that we make a significant investment into the Brave Warriors.“We also make significant investments in other soccer initiatives and numerous other sport codes, which range from golf, rugby and cycling, right through to volleyball, hockey and squash, to name but a few.” NBL further promised to remain committed towards sponsoring local sport, going into the future. The company noted that sport provides impetus in terms of promoting healthy lifestyles and creating social experiences, by uniting people from all walks of life, and cannot be underestimated.“It is for this reason, rooted in our O&L purpose, 'Creating a future, enhancing life', that we are passionate about ensuring that our investment behind sport is executed in such a manner that sport plays its rightful role in promoting patriotism, developing talent and creating moments for us as Namibians to pull together as one, in support of our teams,” Van der Westhuizen said.It was not the first time the company has come under fire for sponsoring teams outside the country, after it also sponsored South Africa's Griquas rugby side.The company remains optimistic about its sponsorships outside and inside the country, Van der Westhuizen added.Jesse Jackson Kauraisa

It's 'business strategy'

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-26

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It's 'business strategy'

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-26

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