Online Reporter
Petros Kausiyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
BRIGHTER days appear to be on the horizon for the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe ahead of the start of their 2025 domestic season.
The NAAZ leadership have in the last two days been locked in the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee boardroom, crafting their 2025-28 strategic plan.
And yesterday NAAZ president Tendayi Tagara emerged from the strategic planning workshop to announce that the association had also inked a deal with a new partner — branding and marketing firm 5 Brands consulting group.
The company’s managing partner Ruth Ncube in confirming the deal, expressed happiness at being handed the task of re-branding NAAZ and to market the association and lead in the search for the much-needed corporate partners.
“5 Brands is a marketing and consulting group that has a vision to grow athletics in Zimbabwe.
“In the last month or so we have been working closely with NAAZ and now we understand how local athletics operates. We now know how to re-brand it, re-position it and to understand the culture and to align it with the strategy that NAAZ have come up with.
“We are excited and know that we will make an impact and that we have to drive athletics,’’ Ncube said.
A beaming Tagara could not hide his joy at sealing a partnership deal with 5 Brands which also kick-started what is set to be a busy year for athletics.
“We gathered for the last two days and were led by Daniel Kuwengwa (marketing consultant), we had all the 10 provincial chairpersons and our executive were in attendance.
“We also had representatives from the Sports and Recreation Commission, and ZOC also attending and we are very excited with how the programme went.
“Earlier in December we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 5 Brands for them to market the association and we are happy that this has come to fruition and they will be responsible for marketing our brands starting with the Southern Region senior championships, which will require around US$62 000’’ Tagara said. The NAAZ boss outlined an audacious bid in which they would have more locally-based athletes also securing qualification for major international events which include the World Championships.
Long-distance runners Issac Mpofu, Ngonidzashe Ncube, Fortunate were among the locals who have been to the World Championships, having competed at the last event in Budapest, Hungary two years ago.
Tagara also revealed that their strategic plan had infused their vision to have an increased number of athletes on Team Zimbabwe’s contingent to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics in the United States.
“We are hoping that around the 14th to 15th February, we will be able to roll out the plan.
“The plan mainly covers only facilitation of the athletes’ performance, to grow the organisation and we are happy that as a federation we have secured a partner to brand the association, to franchise and to fund-raise for the organisation.
“As NAAZ and under my leadership, the philosophy is that we do not directly handle financial resources that come from sponsors, there are experts, who do that and we come in as technical partners, providing the technical expertise on running the athletics events.
“We are taking the route of the major organisations that franchise, so we have franchised our junior championships that will be in Bulawayo on the 12th April so the company (5 Brands) will be responsible for mobilising resources
And run it.
“We have also franchised the Southern Region Senior championship which will be on the 26th and 27th July, they will be responsible too for looking at how we can raise funds for that.
“Besides we have also tasked them to look for resources and sponsorships for competitions which we will also run. I want to emphasise that our partner is responsible for all the resources that they mobilise and they will be accounting to the sponsors for the resources that they get’’. “In the strategic plan we have also picked on the locally-based strategic growth for our athletes.
“It is every athlete’s dream to get a scholarship to the United States but we are pushing to have the home-based athletes qualify for the major championships. “Remember at the last major championships (African senior championships, our relay team was based at home,’’ added Tagara. Their new partner, Tagara also said, were keen to ensure that they help to find scholarships on the home front for the athletes which will help instil a greater sense of belonging to the country.
With both a key partner and a new strategic plan in place, NAAZ are also now expected to establish new commissions and committees to oversee a variety of upcoming programmes and competitions.
This comes after the December dissolution of the previous governance commission, marketing commission, women’s committee, development committee, selectors committee and coaches committee.
Tagara, retained unopposed in a major show of confidence by the athletics family, indicated that all their programmes and major competitions such as the Championships will be vital in Zimbabwe’s build-up to the 2028 Olympics. And this will start with promises a hectic 2025 season that will also see NAAZ sending athletes to the World Relays coming up, the Africa Junior Championships, competing in the Confederation of African Athletics Under-18/Under-20 Championships in April, in Algeria and the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Youth Games set for Namibia in May.
