Rwanda leading cement producer, Cimerwa PPC has announced sponsorship of the 2019 CimeGolf Tournament which will cost over Rwf60mlllion.
The third of its kind CimeGolf tourney was announced this Wednesday by the Cimerwa CEO, Bheki Mthembu and Kigali Golf Club (KGC) Captain Dr. David Kashaka during a pre-event press conference ahead of the one day tee off event which is expected this Saturday.
The 9-hole tourney to be held at the new Kigali Golf Club will be attended by 138 amateur golfers from Rwanda, south African, DR Congo and Zimbabwe who will compete for fun and raise awareness on golf tourism, according to organizers.
In comparison to the previous tourney in 2018 (budgeted at Rwf53million), this years’ event will come with many lucrative awards and goodies including trophies, state of the art golf bag trollies (MotoCaddy P1), TaylorMade golf bags, high performance Wood One clubs among others, to be handed to best players.
Cimerwa CEO Mthembu said that the reason for sponsoring the tourney was to show the importance of golf and Cimerwa’s responsibility in community development, especially that the company has seen market penetration growth from 30% to over 55% in the last five years.
“This is the biggest golfing game that we have been yearning for. This time it is more than just golf, it is about the community and we plan on collecting Rwf2000 from each of the players to raise funds for the Rwanda caddies,” Mthembu said.
For Kashaka, Cimerwa sponsorship for the golf game in Rwanda, is in line with the new golf tourism plan, and will increase its popularity among Rwandans and also encourage more young golfers to take up the game.
Kashaka said that the CimeGolf 2019 game will also act as the biggest national tournament of the year since the country will not host the Rwanda Golf Open event as planned in order to pave way for the expansion of the current golf course.
This expansion, according to Kashaka will come long closure of golfing activities starting in November and the upgrade works of the golf course from 9 holes to 18 holes, which is expected to be done and completed by May 2020.
The construction works will be manned by Rwanda Ultimate Golf Course Ltd, a new subsidiary company of Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) scheme.
“We have already started on the expansion plans and hired a world renowned golf course design specialist. We shall reveal the details of the plan and money once the plans are finalized,” said Josue Dushiminana, the Managing Director of Rwanda Ultimate Golf Course Ltd
