Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) and Fidelity Insurance have put pen to paper on a twelve-month contract that guarantees the continuation of top-flight Coach of the Month Awards.
The reward program will run from September 2019 to May to 2020, capping six years of partnership between the two entities that have seen myriads of coaches recognized and duly rewarded for excellent performances.
Under the signed contract, Fidelity Insurance will pay deserving coaches Sh75000 monthly while giving SJAK Sh65000 for administration. The firm’s marketing manager Nicholas Males expressed their gratitude to the association for running a credible reward scheme and urged coaches to continue with the good work of nurturing talents in the country.
“Very hard economic times are with us but as Fidelity Insurance despite the tough times we still want to put our money in the award for the next year. SJAK indicated that we should round the figure for coaches to Sh100000 but the dire economic conditions cannot allow for now.
“In our small way we can say we give back to society and we wish to continue with this. We hope other corporates can come on board to help the sport. When economic conditions improve we can sit down again to improve the deal. Otherwise, as the season begins we can only wish
coaches and clubs all the best,” Malesi said
SJAK president Chris Mbaisi also noted that local coaches have upped their game since the award’s inception five years ago and urged them to strive for excellence.
“I want to thank Fidelity for the far we have come in this initiative. Looking at it critically the coaches we
have awarded have made further career steps and we may have Francis Kimanzi and Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno running in the national team sooner or later.
Fidelity Insurance has also boosted the upcoming LG Football Awards with a token for the coaches category and look to come in big in subsequent editions. Having awarded the tacticians throughout the season, Fidelity hopes to eventually own the end of season coaches
segment as a culmination of the monthly awards bestowed upon excellent tacticians.