Some people have wondered how Asante Kotoko Chief Executive Officer, Nana Yaw Ampomah has managed to secure sponsorships for the club in amidst the Covid-19 pandemic while within the same time and space, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) heirachy have been on similar duties but without successes to talk of.
The simple answers are that seeking sponsors for a league competition no matter how well and attractive that league is, can’t be the same as getting corporate partners and sponsors for a football club. What goes into both differ very much.
It’s the reason we don’t have to ignorantly foist that conversation on ourselves to make the GFA look unjustifiably bad. They’ve made efforts to land sponsorship for the Ghana Premier League (GPL). It’s just that their inputs haven’t yielded the kind of fruits desirable for the GPL. It has to be reiterated however that, it’s not entirely true that, the GPL isn’t sellable to corporate businesses in Ghana.
My view is, there’s collective disbelieve in the product we want to sell as well as the officers selling the product. By officers, I mean key actors involved in marketing and promoting the GPL to warrant the sort of investment we want for it. I’ll elaborate on this later but the earlier we worked hard to change perceptions the better.
Superficial PR gimmicks won’t work. Rather, diligent tasks at improving standards in the competition backed by proper, sustainable media engagement, possibly will provide clues to the unanswered questions on GPL’s marketability and sponsorship.
We’ve to consciously build the GPL brand to win the trust of businesses like Asante Kotoko’s NYA is doing. Take it or leave it, the credibility of Kotoko’s brand is presently stronger than previously. And this has been as a result of Management’s intentional effort to situate the club in totally different lights. I haven’t seen that with the GPL yet.
For instance, Access Bank aren’t getting Kotoko a bus for the sake of it. They would’ve done same for others if it was so. Kotoko and Access Bank have something for mutual business benefits. That’s how it works. NYA’s leadership is pulling the right plugs, ensuring Kotoko’s well-placed on the minds of serious businesses.
Team performance aside, managerially, Kotoko is becoming robust with clear, visionary plans. In fact, the things NYA’s steadily doing; activating his vast networks, recruiting competent technical managers and players; utilising supporters’ loyalty to raise funds, being transparent, meaningfully engaging the media and other stakeholders; these things, put together are repositioning Kotoko.
It’s more than a bus to ride on. They’re positive developments for Asante Kotoko to thrive and to, as always, set the best standards for the GPL and our football at large.
Credit: Jerome Otchere
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