Airtel Ghana Managing Director, Philip Sowah has promised that the company will continue supporting the development of soccer at the juvenile level through its flagship ‘Airtel Rising Stars’ and would even increase the support over the coming years. “We at Airtel have decided to focus on soccer at the juvenile level to develop talents for the future of football in Ghana and I can assure you that we will not cut back on our investment into that area, but we will even invest more in the coming years,” he said. Philip Sowah was speaking at a brief ceremony to present a cheque for $7,000 and $3,000 in football gear to Ghana’s Inter-Royal Football Club, for winning the maiden edition of female category of the Africa Airtel Rising Stars in Nairobi, Kenya. Inter-Royal went to the Africa tournament after winning the Ghana edition of the Airtel Rising Stars competition. Philip Sowah said Airtel was proud of the achievement of the team as it brought honour to the country, adding that Airtel was happy that the Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) initiative is already yielding positive results for the country. The company also used the occasion to present a cheque of GHC5,000 to the Captain of Ghana Under-17 female team, the Black Maidens, Priscilla Okyere, who was a product of Airtel Rising Stars and led the Maidens to win Bronze at the recent World U-17 tournament in Azerbaijan. "Priscilla’s exemplary leadership on the field and immense talent is one that Airtel is proud of and that is why we want to help in the further development of Priscilla by rewarding her with GHC 5,000 to be placed in an investment fund for her," Sowah said. Priscilla Okyere was one of six best players from Ghana who attended a soccer clinic in South Africa last year under the auspices of Airtel through the Airtel Rising Stars program. Priscilla expressed her gratitude to Airtel for the reward and the opportunity she had to take part in the Airtel Rising Stars. "It taught me a lot of things I didn't know before", she said. Chairman of the National Juvenile Committee (NJC) of the Ghana Football Association, George Afriyie said his outfit was happy with the ARS initiative being pioneered by Airtel. He said the NJC is looking forward to continuing the collaboration with Airtel to help unearth soccer talents at the grassroots level. Afriyie called on other corporate organizations to get onboard the ARS train and partner Airtel to develop juvenile soccer. “At the GFA, we are starting a ‘books and boots’ program under which we will ensure that all talents playing in any of the national teams are also in school and those whose parents cannot afford to finance their schooling will be admitted to the GFA’s own academy to ensure they are not denied formal education because of football,” he said. Airtel Rising Stars is an initiative geared towards unearthing footballers who are in school. Two of the players from the just ended event have been called into the national U-17 team, the Black Starlets.