Let me first of
all officially welcome our partners International Energy
Insurance to our humble offices in Kumasi and particularly a
big welcome to their handsome Managing Director.
Distinguished
ladies and gentlemen, all protocols observed, we are witnessing
another milestone today in corporate sponsorship and a few more
will follow very soon.
This is very
significant to us because it deals with our psychology if any
catastrophe occurs and we thought it wise to do this search to
get an insurance company on board so that this worry can be
managed by us.
I thank IEI for
coming on board and also to all those corporate sponsors who are
already on board.
Let me give you a
typical example of why I think this kind of sponsorship is very
significant to our need. Quite recently, one of our key players,
Gideon Baah, suffered a very bad injury on the field of play.
If we had a very
good insurance, I am sure the financials of his rehabilitation
would have been catered for and his rehabilitation would have
been faster than what we have achieved so far.
Eventually, we
sent Gideon to
Scotland
and he is back and has started training. We are very grateful to
all those who assisted us. But I think an insurance policy would
have been handy in dealing with the problem.
I do not hope
that we are going to be reckless to be sustaining injuries so
that we send huge bills to our partners. We will do our best to
avoid injuries, which are definitely avoidable.
I know that IEI
is a new company in
Ghana
and I want us all to give them a hand of applause for coming on
board even though there are older indigenous companies in the
country doing insurance.
Why IEI? I had to
do a few research on the internet to see which company is in the
forefront of sponsorship so far as sports was concerned and as
rightly said, I tumbled on two.
The 2010 FIFA U17
world cup and the African Hockey Championship in Ghana, which meant that approaching
them was the right thing to do because they had already had the
taste of this business before.
But obviously,
the fact that they are on board underscores their proactive
commercial sense in that, they realize that the partnership will
also help leverage their business.
We are grateful
for the sponsorship, which will provide us policies ie, Personal
accident policy, policies for our vehicles, group life policy,
travel insurance, and a bit of medical insurance, which will be
a component of the personal accident insurance.
In addition,
there will be some free cash that we can use and I have
indicated to them that we intend to commence our office annex
with the cash component that they are donating so the mango
three you see here at the secretariat will not be here anymore
in a few months time because their money will give us the
foundation to commence the office project.
We appreciate
very much what they are going to do for us and as we sign today,
we also promise that their investment or sponsorship will not go
to waste or unnoticed.
On our part, we
will give them all the needed publicity and all the marketing
gimmicks, which will help them to grow their business in this
country and in this region in particular.
On the field of
play, now that the players know that they are going to be
covered by insurance, I believe they are going to do their best
and would be coming with trophies in the very near future.
On this note, I
will like once again to thank very much International Energy
Insurance for coming on board to sponsor this great club.
The partnership
will yield the benefit that we all envisage. We thank you very
much.
