Bosso struggling to get main sponsor

Highlanders continue struggling in pursuit of a main sponsor following the exit of NetOne last year, but the club remains hopeful of securing sponsorship soon.

Presenting the chairman's report to members at the club's annual general meeting last Sunday, club chairman Kenneth Mhlophe said the long term end to sponsorship headaches lies in the successful running of the recently acquired Inyathi gold mining claim.

Despite hitches in securing sponsorship,  largely as a result of challenges the corporate world is facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the club managed to secure partnerships with three local organisations as well as one international sportswear company.

"The hunt for a partner to take up the role of main sponsor is still ongoing after the exit of NetOne regardless of the many black shots and negative responses owing to difficulties faced by corporates as they also grapple with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. There is still hope yet although the prospects are further limited by the fact that football will return to fanless stadia, thus limiting the visibility of sponsors' brands.

"The lack of television coverage for our games makes for a less attractive marketing environment too. We have, however, been successful in conversations with targeted partnership where we use the strength of our brand as leverage and to this end have managed to secure product sponsorship from Arenel Biscuits,  service partnership from Sanctuary Insurance, technical partnership with OTB Sports Apparel as well as kit sponsorship for all the junior teams from Eyethu Fruit and Veggie," said Mhlophe.

He also said club legend Madinda Ndlovu and other targeted junior coaches are yet to sign any contract with the club Highlanders haven't finalised sponsorship for the project, Mhlophe told members.

"The junior teams' leadership is being structured to meet the needs for development, talent identification and elite training methods as a direct response to the guidelines given by the first team coaches over the past two seasons.

"In pursuit of this continous development trajectory therefore, a team headed by former son and technical manager Madinda Ndlovu as overally responsible for talent identification, training methods development, coaches training and programme development has been created and all is agreed and awaits finalisation of sponsorship confirmation and sign off before announcement. The other coaches in this ambitious plan include Melusi Sibanda  (Under-20), Siza Khoza (Under-18), Gift Lunga Jr (Under-16), Daniel Ngwenya  (Under-14) and two managers Smart Moyo and Marko Dube," said Mhlophe.