UNILEVER Tanzania has poured a 20m/- support to become the official sponsor of the 2.5 km children’s race of the Rock City Marathon whose official flag off is October 24th at the Rock City Mall in Mwanza.
The move is said to be a continuation of the company’s strategy in supporting the community and the government as a whole in promoting sports in the country with aim to nurture talent, promote tourism, build healthy population as well as promote the sports industry in the country.
Speaking at a chequehandover ceremony in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Unilever Tanzania Managing Director, David Minja, along with CPI Events Coordinator, Kasara Naftal, said the new partnership is a good sign for the future of sports in line with the growth of the tourism industry.
“We are so excited to be sponsoring the Rock City Marathon this year,” said Minja adding that the company decided to sponsor the event because it brings people from different classes together including children who are among the company’s biggest products consumers.
According to Minja the 2.5 km race for children will be known as the ‘Unilever Rock City Junior Challenge.’ He said the ‘Unilever Rock City Junior Challenge’ aims to provide opportunities for children who also happen to be among the biggest consumers of the company’s household products including OMO, Sunlight soap and Vaseline thus those who will emerge winners in the race will leave with various prizes including special packages containing such products.
“The race is a perfect fit for Unilever and since our products are more family oriented, I would like to call on parents and family members in general to come forward in large numbers while encouraging children to participate in these races to increase competition. Unilever, we assure you that children’s gifts will be sufficient and in abundant. Good luck to all the runners taking part, including our very own team from Unilever.”he said.
For his part, Naftal, apart from thanking Unilever for seeing the importance of partnering with the company in improving the race, said that their presence in the marathon is anticipated to make the children’s race one of the major attractions in the event.
Elaborating further on the ‘Unilever Rock City Junior Challenge’, Naftal said that there will be a search of athletic talents from primary schools in Mwanza City for students aged 5 to 10 where the winners, in addition to receiving various prizes from Unilever, will also get free tickets to compete in these races.
“Since the inception of these races, this is the 12th season involving children’s participation in various ways. But this year we believe the children’s own race is going to make headlines. Through the competition we are looking forward to in this race we now believe that our goal of developing new athletic talents is going to be achieved thanks to Unilever for investing in children.’ He added.