This piece was written in the 1st week of July 2017
Last Saturday the Turkish
Airlines ENGAGE Empowering League, the premier wheelchair basketball
competition in South Asia ended
in a positive note. After six months of
preparations, we were finally at the end.
Partnerships were the foundations
of the League, an initiative that on the one hand, promotes social inclusion
and advocates for better living conditions for youths living with disabilities
and on the other hand, it tries to focus on raising the levels of wheelchair
basketball in Nepal.
Yet it takes time and commitment
to build a rapport and you need to give your best at trying to forge a relationship.
People often asked me how I managed to get Turkish Airlines involved and well
it is a long history.
Even if I never really played
basketball, I like the sport. Actually I love most of the sports and I tried
myself to be updated with all the main events. When I was child, I used to go
to watch with my father Olympia Milano playing, at the time one of the
strongest basketball teams in Europe.
Fast forward and I must confess
that I neglected basketball a bit and it was only because of my friend Micheal
Rosenkrantz that I rediscovered the love for the game.
As a proud European, I was
curious to know what was happening in Europe in terms of basketball. I had no
idea that there was a professional league called Euroleague whose title sponsor
was Turkish Airlines.
Then two years ago, Bikram and
Utkrist, our senior most ENGAGE Sport Coaches, our flagship program that
basically trains local youths with a passion for basketball to teams of youths
with disabilities willing to play wheelchair basketball, proposed the idea of
setting up a semiprofessional wheelchair basketball league.
Initially we thought that well,
it was not that big deal, we thought that we could easily organize such events
with a small budget.
Well it turned out that the
League was a “gamechanger” and also a much more complex endeavor for ENGAGE but
it hugely paid off at the end.
At the time of finding the money
for the League, immediately Turkish Airlines popped up in my mind. I still
remember the day I made a call to Archanna Shrestha, Marketing Manager at
Turkish Airlines office.
Somehow I managed, also to my
surprise, to get an appointment with her and her colleague Benazir Khan, the
Sales Manager.
I still remember the meeting with
them, I was with Bikram, it was beginning of December 2015 and we could not
imagine that after two years, we would have gone that far.
Archanna and Benazir liked the
idea but obviously we were proposing something totally new, something bold and
also risky for a corporate partner.
In that meeting I tried my best
to link the idea of organizing a wheelchair basketball league with the fact
that Turkish Airlines was investing money in the European Basket.
Before the meeting, we also did
some research and we found out that Turkish Airlines was not only investing on
sport sponsorships around the world but also that they were heavily involved
with a global corporate social responsibility program called “Widen your Hearth” that is basically
funding community based initiatives around the world.
It took several months before we
could hear back from Turkish Airlines. Meanwhile we had approached several
other potential partners.
Even for the second edition, we
struggled a lot to get the attention of corporates. For example I had to visit
at least 10 times one big national conglomerate begging for an appointment with
the CEO. That appointment never came and promise of a super tiny financial
support never materialized.
Yet it was worthy trying. We had
the opportunity to visit other big companies and we were at least successful in
getting a chance to meet the CEOs. Despite not getting any endorsements, at
least we were happy we had a chance to introduce ourselves and explain our
initiative.
The successful partnership with
Turkish Airlines was a combination of factors, including a very good understanding
with the then new General Manager, Mr. Abdullah Kececi who enthusiastically
embraced the idea, believed on it since day one and successfully pitched it
with the HQ.
We did our best to match the
expectations of Turkish Airlines and from their side, they trusted a small NGO
like ENGAGE and they took a risk on this.
We have been building a
relationship based on mutual understanding and the concept of learning by doing
and self-improvement.
Along the way, we were able to
bring on board other key partners like the Ministry of Youth and Sport and very
strategically the Embassy of Switzerland who loved the idea of creating a more
inclusive society through sports whose support has been fundamental to organize
a series of awareness programs at schools.
The Turkish Airlines team in
Nepal gave us hope and helped boosting our confidence so that we could
approach, sometimes with success and many more time with failures, other
partners. Themselves they helped connecting us with opportunities.
With a major corporate partner
like Turkish Airlines, with a very committed development partner like the
Embassy of Switzerland, we were confident that organizing such big initiative
was possible.
We succeeded also because we won
the trust of other partners like D Life Styles, Civil Bank, IME, MSI, CBM, Hero,
AYON and the Duke of Edinburgh International Award and NSCISA. Each of them
played an important role and trusted us.
Building partnership is not about
cashing in but it is about building relationships, show your strengths but also
your weaknesses. Listening carefully and understanding others ‘perspectives and
never be afraid of sharing your perspectives. It requires an investment in time
and energies but also some luck to be on your side.
Galimberti is the Co-Founder of ENGAGE, a local not for profit
partnering with youths living with disabilities. E-mail: simone_engage@yahoo.com
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