ONE of the country’s top financial institutions CBZ Holdings has entered into a strategic partnership with the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) with a view of helping improve preparations for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Last year, Zimbabwe had a mere five athletes at the global games with two of them, sprinters Makanakaishe Charamba and Tadiwanashe Makarawu reaching the final in the 200m race.
This partnership is expected to help more athletes qualify for the next Olympic Games and also improve the performance of the country’s representatives at such a stage.
The partnership agreement was signed at the CBZ Wealth Management offices in Harare yesterday.
Speaking at the event, CBZ Holdings Group chief executive officer Lawrence Nyazema emphasised the organisation’s commitment to ensuring that athletes have an environment through which they can thrive.
“The challenge for all Zimbabweans is how to ensure that all we have achieved in our sport in the past does not go to waste,” Nyazema said.
“And for us as CBZ, being the largest financial institution in the land, it’s very clear that we have got a role to play. It’s our role to say how do we enable our athletes to thrive.
“A few days ago, we entered another partnership with a football team whose heritage does not want to disappear. It’s not easy to survive not only as a corporate body, worse so as a community team for a hundred years. So Highlanders is on 99 years and we wish the well as they reach their centenary.”
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He added: “We are looking forward to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. If I am not mistaken, in 1994, Los Angeles were the hosts for the Olympics, so we look forward to fielding a credible team and the Olympics Spirit is not only about winning, but as Zimbabwe, let’s make sure we have participated and most importantly, we have prepared as best as we can.
“So thank you very much to ZOC for choosing us to be your partners and as CBZ, our commitment is to ensure that we get sport and athletics in particular to the level that it deserves.”
ZOC was represented by its recently re-elected president Thabani Gonye and chief executive officer Marlene Gadzirayi.
Gonye has faith that the partnership will be a game changer for sport in Zimbabwe.
“We are all taking into this journey where we are going towards Los Angeles 2028, and that is the journey that we have to take together. And I know that this partnership is one that will unlock that value for us to go and make an impact,” he said.
“I think as we are speaking towards the direction process, we see that 2024 was a signpost of exactly where Zimbabwe needs to be to restore itself to be a winning nation, to be in the podium places. We have been there, we know how sweet it is.”
Gonye said he was not looking at the occasion as just a transactional occasion, “but a relationship-building journey that we start with this engagement that we are doing today”.
“There’s a huge number of projects that we are working on that will ensure what we are committing ourselves to the nation for this journey,” he said.
“It’s going to happen, and it will happen. So for me, it’s just to thank you. Today marks that milestone of which we start a change with CBZ as one of our bankers for the years that we have been.
“And the fact that we have stuck with you, we believe in you. We believe that we can actually make something special for Zimbabwe.”
Last week, CBZ Holdings entered into a partnership with Highlanders, a deal which targets club members to transact with the financial institution for the benefit of the club.
