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Support sports industry to touch lives – Dr McKorley raps corporate sector

The Chief Executive Officer(CEO)of the McDan Group, Dr Daniel McKorley, has reiterated calls to corporate organisations to invest in sports if they were bent on making a lasting impact in Ghana’s economy and keen on touching lives of Ghanaians.

He said from his experience, the impact and difference financial investments in various sporting disciplines and infrastructure produced was unmatched; encouraging more corporate bodies to consider investing in sports.

He made these suggestions on the sidelines of a $270,000 three-year sponsorship deal signed between the McDan Group and Accra Great Olympics last Friday that confirmed the shipping and logistics company as the headline sponsors of the club.

“It’s about time we looked at what creates the impact; what creates the difference in an economy. You can see our support for tennis for the past nine years, we have been able to support football too.

“I’ll urge corporate Ghana to consider the sports industry; when you put your money in sports you touch many lives.”

He recalled an experience at the McDan Park at La in Accra where he was impressed by the business activities that was growing around the area due to the presence of football related activities.

“The Park that I’ve built in La; one day I got down from my car during half-time of a game and I counted about 92 vendors. Economic activities around the park was enormous and this creates great economic impact.

He urged government to introduce tax waivers that would serve as incentive for them to buy into the idea.

Per the performance-based contract which Olympics received an advanced GH¢5m, a whopping sum of $100,000 will be paid if they won the Ghana Premier league (GPL) and $50,000 for the FA Cup.

Other perks in the contract included $20,000 package for a top four finish and ultimately, a $10m funded Sports Stadium if they won the CAF Champions League.

Commenting on the deal, Dr McKorley said he was confident Olympics was going to uphold their end of the agreement by dishing out eye-catching performances.

“I expect them to perform. I expect them to respect the brand and respect the sponsor and the sponsorship package. I don’t expect Olympics to take this sponsorship for granted. As far as they perform, all the goodies in the contract would be delivered including the $100,000 for winning the Ghana League and a $10million funded 30,000 capacity Stadium promised if they are able to win the African Champions League.”

The renowned sports investor also gave details of a world-class sports village being constructed by his outfit at Ada after securing a 100-acre land, to shoulder some of the pressing infrastructure demands of sports in the country.

“I went to Ada just to build an Astro-turf; I was taken by the beauty of the place and realised we could do more than an Astro-turf. We added running-tracks and now we are doing a sports village. It consists of four parts. There will be six tennis courts including two clay courts. We are looking to host the International Tennis Federation (ITF) competitions there.

“There will also be a basketball court, a three-star hotel, gym, swimming pool and state-of-the-art sports clinic and hostel facility.

“There will also be a facility geared towards improving juvenile football, which is of keen interest to us since it’s the way we develop our football.”

Dr McKorley also added that the facility would be available to host the Black Stars and other national teams when completed. 

BY NANA BENTSI ODURO

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