NBS Bank Plc has become the official corporate sponsor of the African Union Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Youth Games after pumping in K60 million for the event scheduled for December in Lilongwe.

Minister of Youth and Sports Richard Chimwendo Banda unveiled the bank as the main sponsor on Tuesday evening at Sunbird Capital in Lilongwe.

During  the function, NBS Bank chief executive officer Kwanele Ngwenya announced a K60 million sponsorship towards the games.

The minister thanked the bank for coming in despite the economic problems facing Malawi and the world at large.

Ngwenya: We always have the interests of the youth

Chimwendo Banda said: “Whilst government has invested a lot of resources to host the games, it has not been easy to make progress, owing to limited funds.

“I am honoured this evening to unveil NBS Bank as our main sponsor of the event.

“I wish to call upon other companies to emulate and sponsor the games. We have a lot of areas that require sponsorship.”

The minister said the games still need sponsors for food and catering, bottled water and beverages, marketing and branding, insurance services, transport and fuel, Internet, toiletries for athletes, laptops and mobile phones, accommodation and game equipment.

On his part, Ngwenya said as a home-grown bank it was an easy decision to make to support the games.

He said: “As a bank, we always have the interests of the youth at heart. We are already supporting the youths in schools, more especially the girl-child, through mentorship and providing fees for needy students.

“We are proud today to announce this partnership and help towards the successful hosting of the games.”

Ngwenya said the K60 million will not be transferred directly to the local organising committee  (LOC) account.

He said: “The standard operating procedure is that we don’t directly give cash, but we pay for the services incurred. The arrangement is that once a service or a purchase  is done, you will let us know and we will be paying directly to the service provider.”

LOC chairperson Dennis Mombera thanked NBS Bank for the financial support.

He said: “We really are appreciative for your financial support. We reached out to you and you readily responded.”

Malawi will host the regional games in December in Lilongwe

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