eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
State-owned mobile operator, NetOne, is this year scaling up its soccer mentorship programme for schools as part of efforts to grow the sport in the country.
This is part of the firm’s corporate social responsibility programmes.
In an interview recently, chief executive Lazarus Muchenje, indicated that this came after the realisation that most career guidance initiatives done in schools were skewed towards intellectuals and academics, ignoring sport and the role it plays in building vibrant careers.
This is despite that Zimbabwe has produced professional footballers who have played in top flight football locally, regionally and abroad.
The likes of the legendary Peter Ndlovu, Benjani Mwaruwari, Edward Sadomba, Knowledge Musona, Willard Katsande and Nyasha Mushekwi among others have been all over the globe playing professional football and earning hundreds of thousands of US dollars and Pounds Stirling.
Under this programme, the telecoms firm takes particular football stars and their entire team-mates back to their former schools as a way to inspire upcoming soccer stars from such schools.
“We started last year the sports mentorship programme and we are taking soccer back to schools where they came from to inspire the upcoming stars in schools and show them that it is possible to make a career out of sports,” said Muchenje.
“Most career development programmes are on intellectuals mainly and not on sports. So it is always inspiring when football stars come back as professionals.
“We are doing this across the country, and we are scaling it up this year,” he said.
Since launch of the programme, NetOne has taken various teams in the top flight football to schools like Churchill High and Mt Pleasant High in Harare, Chaplain High in Gweru as well as schools in Bulawayo with Highlanders Football team.
In total, the telecoms firm has visited six schools with football stars, in a programme that has received massive response from the schools prompting the firm to scale it up this year.
“We have received an overwhelming response so far and we have realised that even girls are excited about the programme.
“They also aspire to be professional footballers
and are willing to take up the challenge,” said Muchenje.
This year the firm is, however, working on enhancing the programme and strike a balance between the soccer stars’ schedules at their teams, their training sessions and the schools visits.
For years, NetOne has been active in sport sponsoring top flight football in the country.
Last year, the telecoms firm sponsored four teams playing in the Premier Soccer League (PSL).
