FDH Bank Plc gratified at being honoured with Malawi Sport Awards Chairman’s accolade

Nkulichi receiving the award from Madise

* The award is a testament of FDH Bank’s commitment to elevating sports in the country

* FDH Bank has also committed to sponsor Malawi Schools Association expected to be unveiled within the year

By Duncan Mlanjira

FDH Bank Plc Managing Director, Noel Nkulichi says his institution is gratified at being honoured with Malawi National Council of Sports Chairman’s Award, which was presented alongside 2023 outstanding sportsmen and sportswomen at Malawi Sport Awards Gala last Friday.

The Sports Council Chairman, Sunduzwayo Madise also recognised Malawi Defence Force (MDF) and Malawi Paralympic Committee president, James Chiutsi for the role they have played in sports in 2023.

Receiving the award at the Gala at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC), Nkulichi said the accolade is a testament of the Bank’s commitment to elevating sports in the country and he further emphasized the commitment of the bank going forward.

“We also thank the Government of Malawi through Sports Council for creating an environment and policies for corporates to be involved in sports as well as he Football Association of Malawi, Netball Association of Malawi — and all partners for supporting FDH Bank Plc in execution of the sponsorships”. 

“FDH Bank Plc has invested over K1 billion in sports since 2016. Currently, we are the official sponsor of the Flames with annual sponsorship of K250 million, the Queens with annual sponsorship of K150 million, FDH Bank Cup with annual sponsorship of K150 million, the Mayor’s trophy with K80 million annual sponsorship.

The K1 billion sponsorship for the Flames will be spread out in the next four years — which translate to K250 million per calendar year.

The partnership with FAM to sponsor the Flames dates back to August 2016 at K60 million before being increased to K120 million in 2018 and to K360 million in 2021.

The fruits of this investment was the national team’s excellent performance at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2022 in Cameroun and the Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) tournament in South Africa last year where they qualified for the semi-finals for the first time in 20 years.

“The Bank has also committed to sponsor Malawi Schools Association (MASSA) with the sponsorship expected to be unveiled within the year,” Nkulichi said.

In his speech as guest of honour, Vice-President Saulos Chilima urged corporate companies to step forward and support sports by offering sponsorship and advertising opportunities — while emphasising the importance of embracing sports as a substantial business opportunity for Malawi.

He added that sports is a big business and can be used to generate financial resources for the sports sector as well as the country’s economy through talent export.

He affirmed Malawi government’s commitment to investing in sports development and nurturing young talent to ensure their competitiveness on international platforms.

“Sports represents a nation’s culture, talent and pride,” he said. It is essential to invest in its advancement to achieve and surpass our goals.

“Every country is known for its culture, talent, and skills. Sports is a main source of pride hence nations are investing a lot to achieve and surpass their goals.”

Chilima applauded Sports Council for organising the event since 2017 and pledged to woo more support for the awards next year.

While some seemed to query Mibawa TV for being voted the Best Sports Media House of the Year, the recognition stems on the fact that the station made a gross revenue of K191.6 million from its beaming of national tournaments on FAM’s Mpira TV such as the FDH Bank Cup, the TNM Super League, Airtel Top 8 and others.

The product incurred K87.6 million as expenses; giving a net revenue of K104 million of which each team is receiving K5.1 million up from K3.8 million in 2022 — representing 67% increase.

Super League of Malawi (SULOM) and FAM received 10% of the net revenue (10,396,705). FAM’s share is used to service other costs including regulatory obligations such as Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) license fees.

In its report, FAM says the 107% growth in subscription revenue “is clear evidence that Mpira TV is positioned to remain a strategic lever in the football commercialization drive”.

“We managed to grow Mpira TV viewership through leveraging strategic partnership with Starsat in addition to already existing Zuku, Azam and FIFA plus.

“108 matches were broadcast live on Mpira TV alone and 256 matches were streamed live on FIFA+. We thus provided escalated return on investment to our esteemed sponsors as we consistently carried their brands, products, and services to millions of captive audiences beyond the stadium walls and across the globe.”

Looking ahead in 2024, FAM pledges that they will focus on optimizing revenue growth through consolidating the free-to-air package offerings, monetizing FIFA+ and introduction of Mpira TV App which will increase access and provide convenience to many football fans.

Writing on his Facebook page, Mibawa TV Chief Executive Officer, John Nthakomwa said: “Mibawa did not just by chance win the 2023 Media House of the Year — we worked for it.

“The Council is a serious team that takes time to look at facts, hence the credibility of their awards. The football teams will benefit from passive income coming from TV rights, more income than they have ever received from local television rights in the history of Malawi.

“Mibawa finances the product. Our vision has always been to grow the product so that we all can benefit. Looking at the number of games we produced in 2023, over 108 live games, we basically made K400,000-plus per game when our production costs — running of the 24-hour channel and development of content for the channel — are in millions.

“Mibawa has dedicated itself to improving the quality and growing the product. It is sad when you make all this effort and sacrifice which will benefit many, others try and demean your efforts and cause many others in the process to lose.”