DTE technologies will continue to support the team through more financial support as well as kit sponsorship.
Kenyan-based ICT Solutions company, DownToEarth Technologies (DTE Technologies), has set on a journey to give back to the local community by sponsoring field hockey club, Western Jaguars, for three years. The sponsorship agreement which has kicked off this year with a $8,547 (Ksh. 1 million) cheque will run until 2024.
Down the line of time, DTE technologies will continue to support the team through more financial support as well as kit sponsorship. Additionally, the ICT Solutions firm will offer education scholarship opportunities to the young players in the team.
The Managing Director at DTE Technologies, Vincent Milewa, has termed this sponsorship as a way of giving back to a sport that has been important to the firm. Vincent and a couple more DTE executives were former field hockey players, and this is a way of using the growth and success they have had in the tech space to give back to the sport.
“DTE as company has a lot of history with hockey, so this is our way of giving back to the sport we love. Of course, we would like to see Jaguars challenge for the league title but at the same time we hope this support can help the overall perception of hockey as a sport,” Milewa said after officially signing the sponsorship deal at the City Park Hockey Stadium in Nairobi.
“We are also encouraging other corporates to join us in helping the sport regain its old glory when Kenya was among the top 5 countries in the world,” he added.
Technology has grown in Africa with companies like DTE Technologies being at the fore front. This poses a challenge to other leading IT firms to give back to the community and share the success technology has had in the continent.
On his part, the president of Western Jaguars Hockey Club, Dr. Wilfred Mutubwa, expressed his gratitude to DTE Technologies for coming in to help the team. According to Dr Mutubwa, most players have been kitting themselves which can be quite costly. In fact, this is the case with most, if not all, hockey players in Kenya.
“With DTE coming on board, this helps us to at least provide the players with kits, including a hockey stick, a mouth guard, shin guards and more. Hockey is a very expensive sport and a player kitting himself is quite expensive,” he said.
“We would like to also see more sponsors coming in to boost the sport because the passion is definitely there. There are three different leagues, a lot of teams, and a lot of players who are doing it on their own,” Dr. Mutubwa added.
DTE Technologies is an ICT infrastructure company based in Kenya, providing solutions such as Networking, Cyber security, Data Centres, and Workplace applications. It represents technology vendors like Cisco, VMware, and Siemon.
As a leading tech company, they have set the ball rolling with sponsoring a local sports team. Are we going to see other players in the tech sector come into the game as well?
