GOSEGO MOTSUMI
Absa Bank Botswana this week (Monday) announced that they would be sponsoring the 2022 Gaborone International Music and Culture (GIMC) Jazz Festival to the tune of P300 000. Slated for Saturday, 27 August 2022 at the Gaborone International Convention Center (GICC), the Jazz festival is a part of the week-long GIMC festivities that showcases local, regional, and international artists in a bouquet of arts and cultural activities.
“The agreement to partner and sponsor the jazz festival comes at a time when our focus is on supporting our communities in areas such as arts, culture and sports which forms the fundamentals of our Citizenship strategy,” said ABSA MD, Krishnan Menon at a Press brief.
Sponsorship role for ABSA
Menon said as a business they were deliberate and took time to understand that some of their customers would appreciate being a part of a world-renowned festival. In 2015 the Association of African festivals based in London rated GIMC as the 7th biggest Music and Culture festival in Africa
He said: “Our partnership with GIMC in this year’s exciting Jazz Festival will allow us to entertain and engage with our top clients, nurture, and build client relations and offer our clients a memorable musical experience.”
Word from GIMC founder
The elated founder of GIMC, Fish Pabalinga said in any festival it was strenuous to continue without partnerships because the economics of a festival are such that 35 percent comes from gate takings and 65 percent coming from sponsors. He said ABSA’s sponsorship would help them to present GIMC as an international event that they can all be proud of as Batswana.
Said Pabalinga: “Our vision is to have GIMC as one of the biggest pan African festivals. People may look at a festival and think that I am a guy that likes fun but when you really dig deep you will find out that there are beneficiaries from many sectors of the economy when we stage this festival.”