Uganda: UTL Runs Its Course With Miss Uganda

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The Monitor (Kampala)

INTERVIEW
8 September 2008
Posted to the web 8 September 2008

For two years in a row, Uganda telecom has been the main sponsor of Miss Uganda. Levi Nyakundi the company's marketing manager spoke to Daily Monitor about the company's involvement with the event.

What attracted you to get involved with the Miss Uganda event?

Uganda telecom's involvement with Miss Uganda for the last two years has not been accidental. uganda telecom prides itself in being a local home grown brand providing world class services.

As a home grown brand we see ourselves as championing interests that support our country. That is why, for example, we honour our excelling sports personalities every year in the uganda telecom USPA gala. The Miss Uganda pageant for us represents an opportunity to participate in the search for Uganda's next representative on the Miss World stage. Being Uganda's ambassador on this global stage is an important role to Uganda, a role which uganda telecom supports.

In this time, what has been your investment in the pageant?

Miss Uganda has always enjoyed immense social interest in the country, and has been one of the most anticipated social events on Uganda's social calendar. However in 2005 and 2006, the event disappeared off the social stage as the Miss Uganda license holders changed. The scope and profile also disappeared.

In 2007, we decided to get involved in its re-invention, to bring it back to the social stage that it once occupied. In 2007 we invested over Shs200m in cash and kind to ensure it was back. This investment of course does not include the contribution of the team in terms of time, effort and direction. In 2008, we upped our sponsorship to Shs250m and also managed to attract two other sponsors on board in Nile Breweries and Air Uganda. So we've invested slightly under half a billion shillings over the two years in which we've been involved.

How have the two years been for you as the sponsors?

The fact that we've been on board for two years running means that the event has paid back to the brand in terms of the countrywide exposure that comes with being associated with the event. We must say that it has been a learning process for us during the sponsorship and the lessons from it have been well learnt.

Has the pageant grown in the time you've been sponsoring it?

Without doubt the event has grown in stature and size since we took on the sponsorship. In 2005 and 2006, the event was almost non-existent, having come down from being the most highly sought after event on Uganda's social calendar, to one that people were not hearing about.

We invested in it due to our belief that it would grow to become what it once was, or even greater. We still believe that the pageant is still on the journey to completely re-establish itself in the psyche Uganda. Over the last two years, we've managed to hold two successful finals, which have been extremely well attended. Without a doubt, I must say, it has grown tremendously.

Are you still going to sponsor Miss Uganda next year?

We believe that we've run our course with the event as it is in its current format. We've managed, together with our co-sponsors this year, to begin the journey of restoring the pageant to its former glory. We feel that we've done what we can and would like to let the next sponsor carry the baton further.

Where do you see Miss Uganda in the next few years?

We believe that Miss Uganda can only go up. However, this said, there are a number of relevant lessons that the license holders need to learn from the last two years in which we've been involved, for the pageant to truly flourish. It has not been the easiest of journeys with the pageant this year. However, the sky is the limit.

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