Wayde van Niekerk, a gold medalist and field sprinter, signed a two-year deal with T-Systems South Africa, an ICT company based in Germany.
Although the details on the value of the deal are top secret, one thing for certain is that Wayde will not suffer the thought of a sponsorship headache -as he prepares for the 2016 Rio Oyimpics in Brazil-beginning August- unlike his peers.
The two-year deal will see our Golden Boy attending and appearing at some of the events arranged by T-Systems in the country.
T-Systems SA will also help in the establishing the Wayde van Niekerk Foundation, an initiative founded by van Niekerk that will support young South Africans to leverage their talent and create a better life for themselves.
Commented Gert Schoonbee, MD at T-Systems South Africa: “We identified a number of synergies that made this sponsorship so meaningful.
Van Niekerk is a South African that studies, lives and trains in South Africa yet competes globally as well as locally and has achieved significant success in both areas. We at T-Systems are locally based with local shareholding, yet draw on our international parent company’s expertise and experience.
In addition, we both operate within very fine margins; Milliseconds can mean the difference between winning an international race and coming second. For T-Systems, meeting the criteria in our Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is just as crucial. There is a significant difference between achieving 98% of our SLA and 95% for our customers.
We are also both committed to enhancing the human experience and making a difference in peoples’ lives.”
The 23-year-old says he is coping with expectations ahead of the Olympics, he was quoted by Daily Sun.
“It’s a huge company and it gives me an extra motivation to keep on working hard and to achieve great things. I also want to empower young South Africans to achieve their dreams by taking them through their programmes,” he said.
Van Niekerk will be attending T-Systems “In Touch Technology 2016” events held on the 12th of May 2016 in Johannesburg and on the 19th of May 2016 in Cape Town, respectively.
The head of communications at T-Systems Lebohang Thokoane, had not responded to questions sent on what is the value of the deal and what role will the athlete play on their CSI projects?
