WITH many sporting associations struggling to attract sponsors, Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) President Christopher Samuda has called on those bodies to govern the sport more efficiently so as to improve their financial situation.

Over the last three months the JOA has signed long-term multimillion-dollar partnerships with Red Stripe and Supreme Ventures.

While a large part of those investments will help sporting associations in preparing for major international events like the Olympic Games, Samuda told the
Jamaica Observer that more needs to be done by the sporting bodies to ensure corporate sponsors are comfortable with investing in their respective programmes.

“First of all you have to, of course, get your house in order [so] that it becomes attractive to prospective financiers and investors — and we are there to help in order to make that appeal to Jamaica,” he said. “Secondly, you have to have the requisite competencies within the federation. A doctor can’t be a lawyer and a lawyer can’t conduct surgery; you have to know the competencies required to build and strengthen the institution.

“Most importantly, you have to be able to market because you may have an asset but you don’t know how to market it. You have to market it and give that potential sponsor bang for the buck so that he or she will say, ‘Look, I will put my money here’ — because it won’t just build and strengthen capacity but they will see a return because a return on investment is very important.”

Samuda is encouraging the relevant sports administrators to make use of the courses provided by the JOA to improve their governance of their respective sports.

“We have our advanced sports management course and what we call our stamina product, and those two activations also deal with financial governance, operational efficiencies, and so forth,” he said. “So, those [are] two activations that our member associations can utilise and take advantage of in building that capacity in their federations.

“What we are doing is saying that you have to have the competencies and the skill set in order to ensure that you positively contribute to your association. You can’t, for instance, do a course that we know will not benefit your individual federation or the sport movement. What we emphasise is: Whatever course we offer is a practical course that will assist persons in understanding the administration of sports, understanding the governance framework of sport, and how they can activate their own talent within their own federations in order to strengthen their institution and increase their capacity.”

Included in the JOA’s $75-million dollar deal with Supreme Ventures are educational scholarships which will be granted to interested individuals involved in sporting associations.