Champions Dynamos set for rebranding

By Eddie Chikamhi

HARARE soccer giants Dynamos yesterday set in motion a strong campaign to market their brand when they unveiled a four-member committee led by businessman Ignatius Pamire that will work alongside a private company to spearhead the club’s preparations for their Golden Jubilee anniversary this year.

The club, which was formed in 1963, reached 50 years last month and are planning to celebrate the milestone in grand style later in the year.

Addressing a Press conference in Harare yesterday, secretary of the board of directors, Chris Kasiyazi, said the Glamour Boys would want to adopt a more professional approach in football business hence their decision to rope in a Harare firm, Achievers Marketing, to work hand-in-hand with their new committee.

Kasiyazi said Achievers Marketing have primarily been tasked with the smooth running of the Golden Jubilee commemorations while the marketing committee has been mandated to come up with long-term programmes to help the club in fund-raising activities.

Former Dynamos chairman, Pamire, has been appointed chairman of the four-man committee that also includes aviation sales consultant Lloyd Hunda, car sales manager Enock Jokomo and Spencer Manguwa, who is a product development manager at Econet Wireless.

Kasiyazi said the Harare giants stand to reap great rewards by effectively exploiting their brand for the benefit of the club.

“Previously there has been a lot of talk about negatives coming from Dynamos; that they are not professional in the way they run their affairs; that there is a lot of influence coming from the board in terms of this and that; but I think what you are seeing today is just some indication that we also listen.

“We have actually put in place a team of professionals where we believe we can actually move forward and take Dynamos to another level.

“I think we have responded to the market and what people have been suggesting. This is one of the things we have put in place to ensure that we portray the correct image of our organisation. They (the committee) are mainly there to come up with long-term projects for Dynamos,” said Kasiyazi.

Dynamos are hoping to hold a number of activities that may include galas and inviting international teams as part of their celebrations. They have been talking about the programme for some time and preparations are now in full swing.

Kasiyazi said they have tasked Achievers Marketing with the organisation while the new committee will explore ways to make the club self-sustaining in future. The committee will, among other things, look into the possibility of Dynamos securing their own stadium, club house and also purchasing their own team bus.

DeMbare have enjoyed a period of financial stability since the coming on board of BancABC two seasons ago and they want the marketing committee to go the extra mile in adding to what they are already getting from their sponsors.

BancABC have undertaken to foot the team’s salary bill and also providing transport and kits among other commitments. They have also agreed to meet the club’s expenses in their Champions League campaign.

“Correct, we do have our sponsors BancABC, who have done extremely well in providing almost everything that we want but we are also saying as a club we need to complement the efforts of our sponsors.

“So this marketing committee has been put in place to just ensure that it becomes the beginning of having a business approach in the way Dynamos is being run.

“The long term view is for Dynamos to come up with businesses, our own shops. There is so much that we can get in terms of exploiting the Dynamos brand.

“At the end of the day, we want to run the club in a more professional way along the lines of Manchester United, Chelsea and all those successful clubs out there. This is the thing behind it.

“And now that the (marketing) team has just been appointed, we now expect them to come up with a programme so that we move forward,” said Kasiyazi.

Dynamos are set to begin their quest in this year’s Champions League when they face Lesotho Correctional Services in the first leg of the preliminary round at Rufaro this Sunday. The visitors are expected in Harare today. The return leg will be in Maseru in a fortnight and if DeMbare prevail they will have a tougher hurdle in the first round where they will face either Al Ittihad of Libya or Tunisia’s Club Bizertin.

Kasiyazi said the formation of the marketing committee would ease the pressure on the Kenny Mubaiwa-led executive committee, which now has to concentrate on the core issues affecting the players on the field of play.

“Of cause questions might also be asked, where does this leave your management committee? What then would Mr Mubaiwa and his team be doing? Mr Mubaiwa’s team is to ensure that the team itself gets the desired results on the field of play. In other words, we don’t want them to worry about other things like ‘where are we going to get our money from?’

“Correct, we do have our sponsors who have actually said they will do what they can to help the club but we also want another team — the marketing committee — coming in so that Mubaiwa’s team concentrate on things to produce results on the field of play like ‘do we have the players we want? Are the players well looked after?’, etc?

“In other words, it’s like any other organisation where they have got arms such as marketing, finance and operations but they are all coming from one team.

“So even with this committee that we have put in place we are saying let’s go out there with one mind. The ultimate goal is to promote the Dynamos brand,” said Kasiyazi. The Herald