First Capital Bank (FCB), sponsors of FCB Nyasa Bullets, have kept a tight lead on the future of their partnership with the club, saying they will make their position known in due course.
The K525 million sponsorship deal is in its last year, but in an interview yesterday, the bank’s head of marketing Twikale Chirwa could not commit on whether the commercial bank will continue bankrolling the People’s Team.
He said: “In the first year of the deal, we touched lofty heights as the team won all silverware, a quadruple to be precise, which was unprecedented.
“In the second year, the club only won one trophy, but our reach in terms of commercialisation was massive as the sale of jerseys almost doubled.”
Chirwa also said the team made strides in terms of digital media footprint.
He said: “We are in the last year and with the way the team has started, we are confident it will do well. We look forward to succeeding in shared goals, but as for the future of sponsorship, we cannot commit. We will come out in due course.
“We are happy to see that once we put the FCB logo on the Bullets kit, we set the pace for commercialisation and we have seen that almost all teams in the Super League today have a kit sponsor, a development that is good for the beautiful game.
“On our side, the sponsorship has made FCB a household name and we are referred to as the people’s bank because of the People’s Team. Our transition to being known as FCB has been made easy because of this partnership.
“We have been able to reach the unbanked through Bullets’ supporters registration initiative where we open accounts and also give debit cards to supporters from all corners of Malawi.”
On the benefits of the sponsorship to the club, Chirwa said ,among others, it has increased financial literacy by putting the players on digital products such as First App and first mobile as well as internet banking for the Bullets secretariat.
He said: “That is not all, the players are used as models when disseminating financial literacy information such as fraud prevention, digital products advertising and loan products.
“The K525 million investment in Bullets has contributed to the livelihoods of the players and officials and we have also used some of the fans in our adverts at a fee.
In a separate interview, Bullets acting chief executive officer Albert Chigoga said they are aware that they are in the final year of the deal.
He said: “It is one of the greatest sponsorships in the history of the club.
“In the interest of planning ahead, we will soon start courting First Capital Bank about the prospects of sponsorship extension.”
FCB and Bullets unveiled the three-year sponsorship on March 1 2023.
