MTC and the Windhoek Golf Club jointly announced a three-year partnership recently that will see the club becoming sustainable and preserving over 30 jobs for the long term.
Boasting a legacy of over 106 years, the Windhoek Golf Club will now be known as the MTC Windhoek Golf and Country Club.
The club also launched what will be known as the ‘MTC Women in Golf Programme’, aimed at empowering women in golf and ensuring more females play the sport.
MTC and the golf club lauded the initiative as a bold step to counter the exclusion of women in golf, and to promote more women’s participation in the sport.
MTC’s chief legal, compliance and risk office Patience Kanalelo said golf is traditionally known as a male sport across the world, and it has, for ages, been at the centre of excluding women.
“It is known as an exclusive sport, where men clinch business deals. And as MTC, one of our core brand values has always been to encourage diverse participation and break long-held stigmas and traditions that exclude the participation of women in certain societal events. The MTC Women in Golf programme is, therefore, a powerful driver that encourages inclusive participation in terms of gender representation in the sport of golf in Namibia.”
Explaining how the programme will work, Kanalelo said: “The programme will be facilitated by Joe Hauwanga Golf Management and Academy, an experienced golfer who runs various developmental golf programmes at the golf club. Moreover, in order to accommodate more women, the programme will be divided into three intakes.”
“We want to have more women from all walks of life benefit from this initiative. As such, we will have the programme split into three intakes, with each intake lasting two months. Each intake will be onboarding 30 beginner female golfers – and after six months, a total of 90 female-aspiring golfers would have gone through the programme and could thereafter decide to continue with the sport on their own after acquiring necessary skills from the programme.”
Commending the partnership, MTC Windhoek Golf and Country Club general manager George Vink described the collaboration with MTC as crucial to the promotion of golf as a sport and its sustainability in the country.