Nyamilandu and deputy captain Stanley Sanudi receive the dummy cheque from Kapolo
* Challenges CORI to set target number of Kukoma sales to be met by fans towards Flames’ AFCON support
* Malawians are excited with AFCON qualification and will support this initiative
* K5 million pledge fulfillment is a starting point of a possible lasting relationship with CORI
* Nyamilandu justifies the proposed K1 billion budget that it covers for AFCON and World Cup qualifiers
By Duncan Mlanjira
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu has enticed Capital Oil Refining Industries (CORI) Ltd to take firm grip of FAM as a business partner, saying the company has the potential to sell Kukoma cooking oil enmasse through football fans.
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Nyamilandu said this on Tuesday at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre when CORI handed over the K5 million pledge the company made if the Flames win against Uganda and secure qualification for 2021 Cameroun African Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals.
He said football has the power to market corporate companies’ products if the fans realize that the benefits of their support of stakeholders’ products can bear fruitful results to the beautiful game.
“I want to challenge you to fully utilize this partnership we have now engaged on by advertising how many bottles of Kukoma cooking oil should be sold before the Flames travel to Cameroun for you to give us the financial support we shall need,” Nyamilandu said.
Nyamilandu delivering his speech
He was responding to CORI’s sponsorship coordinator, Violet Kapolo’s remarks, who said they are delighted that the Flames delivered according to the everyone’s expectations by beating Uganda to qualify for their third AFCON finals.
“We wish it would have been more but the current economic situation restricted us,” she said, adding that going forward they would like to be associated with FAM and the Flames in a firmer partnership ahead of the AFCON scheduled for Cameroun in January next year.
“As CORI, we are determined to do that in a big way,” she said. “However, we can do that only if our sales pick up.
“Having said that, we wish the Flames well as they are about to begin the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and their preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations,” said Kapolo, whose company also awarded K500,000 to the lone goal scorer, Richard Mbulu.
Presenting Mbulu’s cheque
Nyamilandu said Malawians are excited with the Flames AFCON qualification and he was confident they shall support the initiative he is suggesting for the benefit of the team.
“This K5 million pledge fulfillment is a starting point of a possible lasting relationship with CORI,” he said. “We are grateful that you have fulfilled your pledge because in the past other potential sponsors renegaded on their promises.
“Right from the start when you approached us for the pledge, I never doubted you and when it was announced to the players it gave them the impetus to succeed against Uganda.
Some of the Flames players who graced the occasion
“We are happy that the Flames did not disappoint us and going forward we want them to be more galvanized in the preparations for the AFCON, its participation as well as doing well in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
“We can do well if the corporate world joins us to prepare well for both tournaments and we applaud you for choosing to partner with a winning brand — because Kukoma is also a winning brand.”
Nyamilandu then justified FAM’s proposed budget of K1 billion presented to government, saying it covers for the AFCON preparations, its participation as well as towards World Cup qualifiers.
FAM is planning to hold at least four international strength-testing matches ahead of and during the six FIFA World Group D qualifiers in which they are paired with Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire and neighbouring Mozambique.
Nyamilandu said the K1 billion budget covers a lot of logistics such as technical preparations — in which the Flames shall need to be accommodated; player training and game bonuses; air tickets for both tournaments; air tickets to fly in foreign-based players to join the team camp at home and several other needs.
The Flames shall also need to get into camp some four weeks before the AFCON in Cameroun and the plan to have at least four international friendlies for the FIFA World Cup makes it 10 games in total.
“We have not cooked up these figures. The budget we have prepared is not out of the norm but every country packages their preparations in the same way.”
The Flames start the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers away to Cameroun between June 5-8, 2021 before hosting Mozambique on match day 2 between June 11-14.
Then they will be up against Côte d’Ivoire in back-to-back fixtures — starting at home between September 1-4 and away between September 5-8.
Their last home match will be against Cameroun between October 6-9 and wind up the campaign away in Mozambique between October 10-12.
The winners of the 10 groups will qualify for the next round where they will face off to identify the five teams that will qualify for the Qatar finals.
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