After its recent gender-based violence (GBV) Knockout Project, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) formed a steering committee to single out an appropriate GBV organisation to fund from the proceeds of the boxing event.
The company raised N.dollars 841 320 of its targeted goal of N.dollars 1 million through sponsorships from other companies and ticket sales to the Knockout boxing event.
The steering committee will handpick an organisation that works with GBV-related issues and award the money to them after they submit proposals on what they want to do with the proceeds.
Speaking at a media conference here on Monday, MTC Chief of Human Capital and Corporate Affairs, Tim Ekandjo, said the steering committee is made up of the event’s sponsors.
“We chose people who sit on this committee who actually understand this project and who made their commitment in terms of sponsoring,” he said.
Ekandjo said they want the proceeds utilised as soon as possible and will therefore allow proposal submissions for a week to ensure that the process is finalised by 20 November.
Giving more clarity on the requirements of the proposal and the focus of the steering committee, MTC Corporate Communications Manager, John Ekongo, said the committee was established on the basis of transparency and is calling on all organisations who deal with GBV issues to submit their proposals.
“It all relies on the quality of the proposals of these organisations and they need to come to us and convince us,” said Ekongo.
The steering committee will take into consideration the background of the organisations, their past activities in the GBV field as well as their financial records.
“We are not experts in that field so we are calling on these organisations to tell us what they are going to do. We look at everything and if need be we will do due diligence and ask for references, financial records and who the directors are,” Ekongo said.
Organisations that are part of the steering committee include National Special Risks Insurance Association (NASRIA), Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia), Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund, Bank of Namibia (BoN), MTC and Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR), among others.
The MTC Knockout Project saw some of Namibia’s top entertainers and prominent personalities trading leather to fight GBV on 12 October 2019.