Council to negotiate for sponsors’ incentive

The Malawi National Council of Sports says it plans to negotiate with government to consider offering incentives to companies that sponsor sports. Sports Council board chairperson Jim Kalua said in an interview that the move could help attract sponsors to invest in more sports codes other than football and netball. He said this after noting that most corporates are flocking to football and netball, a development he believes is stifling the growth of other codes such as lawn tennis, volleyball and squash.

“We will push for deliberate policies to support companies that sponsor sports as an incentive,” said Kalua. He has since urged associations to comply with council’s guidelines by ensuring all governance structures such as having a secretariat and audited accounts, are in place to attract corporate support. “Sports associations should adhere to the sports guidelines because the only way to attract sponsors is by ensuring that all governance structures are in place.

No corporate entity would want to partner with a n association that does not follow proper governance structures,” said Kalua. In a separate interview, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation Joseph Mwanamvekha said while his ministry welcomes Sports Council’s plan, it will depend on how the proposal will be drafted to ensure that the incentive is not abused. “We wouldn’t want a policy that could be easily abused by the stakeholders, so it will depend on how they will go about it,” he said.

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In the 2026/27 National Budget, Sports Council was allocated K1 billion to be shared among 47 affiliated associations, some of which remain ineligible for funding due to failure to meet key requirements such as conducting Annual General Meetings, having a strategic plan and fully functional secretariats. Volleyball Association of Malawi (VAM) president James Kaunda and Lawn Tennis Association of Malawi technical head Owen Mfune have since welcomed Sports Council’s initiative, saying it will open more doors for various disciplines to secure meaningful sponsorships. He also concurred with the council on the need for associations to comply with the set guidelines.

“Sports Council is right on the need for associations to comply with governance structures to attract corporate support. As VAM, we have done a lot in that aspect as we recently held an elective AGM and we are working towards setting up a secretariat,” said Kaunda. On his part, Mfune said a number of companies they approached are eager to sponsor tennis activities, but do not commit due to lack of incentives such as tax waiver.

“We have been struggling to secure sponsorship for competitions such as the Malawi Open Championship because companies we approach argue that they do not have enough funding as they are heavily taxed. The idea of motivating the companies to sponsor sports is, therefore, on point,” he said.

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