Safaricom in Sh12 million prop up for Soya Awards

PHOTO | FILE Soya Founder and Chairman Paul Tergat.

What you need to know:

  • Soya Founder and Chairman Paul Tergat thanked Safaricom for helping develop sports in the country
  • Several athletes and teams are in the running for the 10th edition of the awards

This year’s Sportsman of the Year Awards has received a Sh12 million boost from integrated telecommunications service provider Safaricom.

The firm’s marketing director, Rita Okuthe, while handing over the cheque to Soya Founder and Chairman, Paul Tergat, said it is a testament of the company’s initiative to promote sports.

“The performance at the Berlin Marathon was very welcome after a gloomy week,” she said on Tuesday. “Such is the positive impact that sportsmen and women have had, and Safaricom is proud to play a role in appreciating and encouraging them.”

Some of the country’s top international athletes are expected for the December 6 fete which honours the country’s best sports persons in a calendar year.

Tergat, on his part, thanked Safaricom for helping develop sports in the country. “With Safaricom’s support, the event has become the premier sports awards event and besides the glamour, our top athletes get to be appreciated at home for the work they put into their various disciplines. I am very proud of that,” said Tergat.

Several athletes and teams are in the running for the 10th edition of the awards, including Berlin Marathon record breaker Wilson Kipsang, Berlin Marathon women’s winner, Florence Kiplagat, and Hamburg Marathon champion, Eliud Kipsoge. Others are the country’s rugby side, and the Kenya women’s volleyball team that won the continental crown in the Africa Nations Cup.