AS local sporting associations seek to generate more support from private sector companies, noted business executive Gary Peart has urged the various sport bodies to improve their business practices in order to increase their financial situation and their level of attraction to corporate entities.

Through his positions at various companies, including Mayberry Investments Limited where he has been the chief executive officer for almost two decades, Peart has assisted different sporting bodies, competitions, and initiatives in securing necessary sponsorship.

Most recently, Supreme Venture Limited, with Peart as their executive chairman, signed a five-year contract extension with Jamaica Olympic Association worth $75 million, which will boost the country’s preparations for major international competitions including this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Peart told the Jamaica Observer that local sporting associations should establish certain measures to earn the trust of corporate entities.

“Transparency [is needed], at the very least. One of the basic things sporting federations should have is their financial statements because those show implicitly and explicitly that you’re in control of your finances — which is your life blood. You should really have fit and proper [accounts] to be fit and qualified to be in the position that they are in,” he said.

Peart, who is also a director of the JOA, says he has been hesitant to fund certain sporting programmes due to how poorly some associations conduct business, and says the JOA model needs to be followed.

“I find there are people who come to you with a particular need, you provide the cash, but when they get the cash you don’t hear anything from them until they need another cheque. That’s one of the things that impressed us about the JOA — we really felt we were in a partnership because they had the opportunity, [just] like other people who just take the money and we don’t hear anything else,” Peart said.

“They have provided us with regular updates, they provide us with information so we can accurately track and determine how our sponsorship is going. The return we get from the sponsorship from the JOA is one of the highest in our sponsorship portfolio. If another sporting federation is able to check all those boxes [like the JOA], we’re willing to come on board. And the key is not just to come on board, the key is to come on board for as big a number as possible,” he added.

Peart, who served as Jamaica’s chef de mission for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, says the partnership with the Christopher Samuda-led association will ultimately be advantageous to the various sporting bodies who are in need.

“One of the benefits of the sponsorship is that the JOA distributes those funds across sporting federations, so it becomes more efficient for us so that they don’t have to approach us, they approach the JOA. The JOA understands our parameters and our protocols so if they see a sporting federation they think qualifies, we’ll have that conversation and we’ll sign off on it and disperse those funds,” Peart said.