SPORT federations, organisations and businesses are being encouraged to sign up for the Namibia Sport Expo which will be held at the MTC Dome in Swakopmund from 8 to 11 December.
At the event’s launch yesterday, the director in the ministry of sport, Jo Ann Manual read a speech on behalf of Minister of Sport Agnes Tjongarero, saying that the Namibian Sport Expo was initiated and approved by cabinet in 2018.
The first expo took place the following year attracting about 70 exhibitors of which 70 percent were locals, but due to Covid 19 the expo could not be held in 2020. It, however, returned in 2021 when a digital expo took place with Namibia’s national sporting federations sharing their stories, while 25 sport codes participated.
Tjongarero said that the MTC Dome High Performance Centre in Swakopmund will host this year’s sport expo following a partnership agreement between the MTC Dome and the Namibia Sport Commission, in collaboration with the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service.
“This expo will be used through sport to encourage, unify and elevate all Namibians giving those in the industry a platform to market and showcase their goods and services. The NSC and MTC Dome is committed to empower and inspire all Namibians through sport,” she said.
“The four-day expo programme includes a sport conference and workshops while a sport exhibition will run simultaneously as we believe that sport has the power to change the nation,” she added.
Ulla Finkeldey, Sport Director at the MTC Dome said they wanted to bring Namibians together through sport.
“We want to create a landmark not just for Namibia, but for Namibians. Our values are to bring people together and with the sport expo that dream is becoming a reality. We want to showcase the variety of sport codes that exist in Namibia, because most Namibians don’t even know the sport stars of their own country,” she said.
“We are a private enterprise joining hands with our national sport bodies and that unity we want to portray to all Namibians. Through the expo we want to showcase the vast variety that we can offer in sport. We are not only the biggest sport centre in Namibia, we are actually the biggest indoor sport facility in sub-saharan Africa and we want all Namibians to be proud of that,” she added.
Sugnet Smit, the project coordinator of the event, said their aim is to bring all the sport federations together for a three-day conference, while the expo will conclude with a workshop on the final day.
“We would like to welcome all the federations to participate in the workshops and also in the conference. The Namibia Sport Commission will have a stand of 30 by 26 square metres, to represent all the federations, but there will also be smaller stands where federations can have their own stands,” she said.
The CEO of the MTC Dome, Fanus Engelbrecht said their three-year partnership with the NSC would mean a lot for Namibia’s sport federations and athletes.
“This collaboration will bring the MTC Dome, its facilities and services, and the passionate people who are working there closer to the federations, to make it a home for them so that they can start to use it. The MTC Dome is there for the athletes, we have wonderful facilities and services, it just needs to be used by our federations,” he said.
The chief administrator of the NSC, Freddy Mwiya said their agreement was a three-year partnership, which will benefit Namibia’s athletes through a private trustee account that will go towards the athletes.
“Currently we have eight athletes on a high performance programme. At the moment it’s run privately, but we would like it to be owned by the federations so that we can have some elite athletes who will be part of the programme and the proceeds that we generate from this project, will be used to support these athletes. So the profits won’t all go in total to the dome – there will be a small injection that will be ploughed back into our athletes,” he said.
Finkeldey called on all sport businesses and organisations to participate in the Sport Expo. More information can be obtained from her at [email protected]
