At the beginning of my career, I had no idea what sponsorship was…
My career started within a system that really took care of everything and all I had to do was play. I happened to know more about sponsorship when the system ran out of funds and having to embark on a journey to look for sponsorship was quite a struggle indeed.
If I remember very well, I think my first sponsorship was a racket sponsor and honestly, at the time it was just good to know I will always have a racket to play with.
At present, I am grateful to have corporate backing where my sponsors take the lead and that gives me a clear picture and guidance on how to maintain our relationship.
Another thing is when you become a part of a certain brand, you need to have values that represent you and them in a way that you both align with each other.
The biggest lesson I have learnt in my career is to have the best team that has my best interests at heart to help me achieve my goals.
What can sponsors do differently for women in sport, especially in disabled sport? -They can help raise more awareness and engage with women and their careers.
My five tips to athletes and para-athletes:
1.Get a mentor
2.Seek an agent or representative
3.Be clear with your goals to your agent
4.Have values, discipline, respect and behave like you are a brand
5.Sponsorship is a field of its own, you need to have more knowledge to be able to know where to start looking for sponsorship
Photo 1 Caption: Four-time grand slam finalist, Kgothatso Montjane, blogs about her past struggles and current sponsorship victories as she shares advice to para-athletes on gaining corporate support. Photo: Kg Montjane (Instagram)
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