By Twimepoki Mangani
Lilongwe, August 26, Mana: In a quest to improve the outlook of the basketball sport, Basketball Association of Malawi (BASMAL) has organised a marketing training for directors to be held Saturday, August 27 at Matundu Beach Resort in Salima.
In an interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA), BASMAL Director of Marketing and Resource Mobilization, Blena Chisenga said the training will improve the manner in which the sport is promoted across all zones in the country.
“The aim of the training is to equip marketing directors in zones to teach them how to market the game better,” Chisenga said.
He added that through successful implementation of the marketing training, the directors in the zones will be able to administer eligible proposals that will attract aid for the game and teams in general.
“After the training, directors will be able to utilize the digital market to promote the game as well as be able to lobby for funding and sponsorship because most directors have never done a formal training before,” he said.
In a separate interview, President of Institute of Marketing in Malawi, Isabel Kachinjika, who will facilitate the workshop, said the session will be able to develop marketing strategies and create relevance for the game of basketball.
“This will help the basketball fraternity to create more value for the sport by being able to develop marketing, communication and brand strategies which will better position basketball teams and players in the country,” Kachinjika explained.
Marketing Director for Northern Zone Basketball League (NOZOBAL), George Mkorongo highlighted the current problems they face due to lack of quality marketing. He said he hoped training session would eradicate such matters.
“We lack sponsorship to assist us in running the sport and players just play for the love of the game because they even invest personal money. Therefore, we hope to have the stakeholders’ intervention,” said Mkorongo.
BASMAL has affiliates which are Southern Zone, Central Zone and another committee in the Northern Region which oversees basketball and report their activities to BASMAL.
The BASMAL affiliates are also responsible for running the leagues namely Central Zone, Basketball League (CEZOBAL), Northern Zone Basketball League (NOZOBAL) and Southern Zone Basketball League (SOZOBAL).
Each zone, including BASMAL will send two representatives to the marketing training.
