Kenya Data Networks (KDN) has announced a record sponsorship deal for Mathare United football club. KDN and Mathare United unveiled the sponsorship at a reception and gala awards dinner for the Mathare United football club held at a Nairobi hotel.
The event which was graced by the Minister for Youth and Sports Hon. Prof. Hellen Sambili celebrated the biggest ever corporate sponsorship of a football club in Kenya’s sports history.
KDN will sponsor Mathare united to the tune of 20 million shillings over a 3 year period with 15million shillings going to corporate sponsorship and an additional 5million in activation, merchandizing, special events and support services.
Mathare United football club acting CEO Patriciah Musyimi emphasized,"This initiative by KDN will hopefully inspire and encourage other companies to follow the example and also invest in other Kenyan Premier League (KPL) clubs."
Making the announcement, Mr. Vincent Wang’ombe the Chief Marketing Officer KDN said that Mathare United has a stylish heritage that is reflected in KDN's passion for innovation and service. “KDN is undertaking this sponsorship to support the club’s dedication to the youth and the Mathare community,” stated Mr. Wang’ombe.
 
“Mathare United has become a global brand known for its support to the youth of Kenya and this sponsorship is among many activities that KDN is undertaking in line with our theme ‘We Build, You Achieve’, through which we will provide the much needed support to the youth and facilitate them to achieve their dreams in sports,” said Mr. Wang’ombe.

The MUFC team will feature the KDN logo on their team jerseys, website, stationery and publicity materials including centre field billboards during home matches televised by SuperSport in Kenya and across Africa.
 “We will be undertaking a wide range of marketing activities to support this partnership and strengthen the value of both brands as well as drive product sales on a regional scale," added Mr. Wang’ombe.
The new KDN-MUFC sponsorship will also feature joint community service projects focused on environmental improvement and creating new KDN digital villages in poor urban and rural communities for ease of internet access to the locals.
“KDN is looking forward to sharing the drive and momentum to build on our success and boost KDN brand awareness through sports,” says Mr Wang’ombe.
Mathare United Chairman Bob Munro emphasized that KDN and Mathare United have complementary visions where KDN is committed to becoming the Pan-African ICT infrastructure of choice while Mathare United is determined to become the top club in Africa.
Mathare United Captain Anthony Kimani thanked KDN for believing and investing in the team and players. “KDN has given us new hopes and new horizons to aim for. Last year we narrowly missed winning the Premier League title. With this new support from KDN, we intend to win it back this year," said the captain.
During the gala dinner, Mathare United unveiled their new home and away kit and outstanding players were also rewarded with trophies and cash.
About Mathare United
Originally established in 1994, Mathare United football club has been consistently ranked among the top four clubs in Kenya for the last decade and has won several national cup competitions. In 2008, the club was crowned the Premier League champions.
Mathare United Football Club is among few Premier League clubs in the world where all the players and club officials come from the same poor community and youth development programme. The club players are required in their contracts to undertake community service activities every week and they are all trained as AIDS prevention fieldworkers and wear an anti-AIDS logo on their uniforms.
The event was also attended by Gary Rathbone, the SuperSport Head of Africa Gary.