Airtel Ghana is investing heavily to support the development of sports in Ghana through sponsorships and brand activation initiatives.

The move by the Corporate Social Responsibility Company of the year is part of its community investment strategy.

The company demonstrated its commitment to harness the power of sports for tourism, health and fitness and as a development tool by headlining the sponsorship of arguably the biggest international marathon organised in Ghana – the Accra Millennium Marathon which attracted some 15,000 professional and amateur athletes from across the world.

The Marathon, directed by the African legend and one of the world’s greatest long distance runners – Haile Gebrselassie took place on 5th September 2015 and will go down in history as one of the biggest sporting events ever held in Ghana.

The changemaker telecommunications giant in partnership with organizers and government, sought to build a more health- conscious nation; healthy and fit to drive the development agenda of the country. Airtel Ghana also sought to identify and support the development of local runners with high potential for international long distance races as well as to position Ghana on the international marathon map.

Airtel Ghana has, over the last 5 years, also invested heavily in the biggest football talent unearthing program, Airtel Rising Stars – a grassroots football talent exploring and development competition designed in a league format to identify, grow and project unknown young soccer talents from obscurity to stardom.

Since the commencement of the highly patronised ARS competition, great talents have been produced to represent the nation at various age competitions. Sandra Owusu-Ansah, Kubrah Abubakari, Florence Fosuaa Annor and Belinda Anane all Airtel Rising Stars players represented Ghana at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup tournament in Costa Rica. Priscilla Okyere, a participant of the maiden edition of Airtel Rising Stars  led the Black Maidens to win Africa’s first medal at a FIFA organized event for women, scoring the winning goal; against Germany in that competition.

Speaking about how Airtel is harnessing the power of sports for development and unearthing talents, Hannah Agbozo, Legal and Corporate Affairs Director said “at Airtel we recognize that sports has the potential to shape dreams and to propel personal and societal transformation.  We care about the health of our customers and the communities in which we operate and we are also determined to provide opportunities for young and talented people in our communities to rise up to realise their full potential.

“This is why we are committed to sponsoring events such as the Accra Millennium Marathon to give our customers and the general public the opportunity to exercise and to stay healthy”.

Airtel Rising Stars program provides an opportunity for young footballers across the country to be unearthed and unleased to be the best they can possibly be.

Airtel says its well-integrated CSR activities focus on environmental and social issues.

“It is our way of balancing economic, health, social and environmental imperatives while at the same time addressing the expectations and needs of shareholders and stakeholders. Airtel believes that each individual has the power of potential, a belief that everyone is imbued with the spirit to succeed and the time to rise up and realise one’s dream and aspiration is now”, Airtel said.