Inter-Royals Football Club, an Accra-based colts football team has been presented with $7,000 cash and $3,000 in football gear for winning the maiden edition of the Africa Airtel Rising Stars football tournament played in Nairobi, Kenya. The Ghana Team progressed to the Africa tournament after they triumphed in the national event played in Accra.
Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Philip Sowah, presenting the cheque to the handlers of the team said Airtel was committed to fulfilling its promise made to the team before the tournament. Mr. Sowah said Airtel was proud of the achievement of the team as it brought honour to the country. He said Airtel is happy that the Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) initiative is already yielding positive results for the country.
Mr. Sowah cited the case of Priscilla Okyere, the captain of the national U-17 team, the Black Maidens, who was a participant at the maiden edition of the Airtel Rising Stars held last year. "Priscilla as you know, led the national team to win Africa's first medal at any female soccer global competition; her exemplary leadership on the field and immense talent is one that Airtel is proud of and that is why we want to help in the further development of Priscilla by rewarding her with GHC 5,000 to be placed in an investment fund for her", he said.
Priscilla Okyere was one of 6 best players from Ghana who attended a soccer clinic in South Africa last year under the auspices of Airtel through the Airtel Rising Stars program. Priscilla Okyere said she was grateful to Airtel for the reward and the opportunity she had to take part in the Airtel Rising Stars. "It taught me a lot of things I didn't know before", she said.
Chairman of the National Juvenile Committee (NJC) of the Ghana Football Association, George Afriyie said his outfit was happy with the ARS initiative being pioneered by Airtel. He said the NJC is looking forward to continuing the collaboration with Airtel to help unearth soccer talents at the grassroots level.
Airtel Rising Stars is an initiative geared towards unearthing footballers who are in school. Two of the players from the just ended event have been called into the national U-17 team, the Black Starlets.
About Airtel in Africa
Airtel is the new brand name for the 17 Zain operations across Africa which was acquired by Airtel International in June 2010. Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all. Airtel has African operations in: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company. For more information, please visit www.airtel.com
About Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 259 million customers across its operations at the end of September 2012. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com
For more information please contact:
Kwame Gyan
Manager – Corporate Relations
Airtel Ghana
E: kwame.gyan@gh.airtel.com