SportPesa Gets Behind Local Liverpool Campaign

At the start of the 2017/18 football season, the SportPesa betting brand announced a new sponsorship deal with Premier League side Everton which saw the company logo displayed on all shirts across that campaign.

It was part of a process intended to raise the operator’s awareness outside of its native Africa while at the same time, SportPesa were eager to get involved with local communities. In the latest development, it’s been confirmed that the company are to give their backing to Liverpool Works, a city-wide initiative designed to get young people back into the workplace.

The Project

Initially backed by Marks and Spencer, the Liverpool Works project features a four week work experience programme which is designed to assist all job seekers but it will be of particular benefit for those returning to the employment market and those who have been out of the workplace for some time.

The city has the third highest rate of 16 – 24 year olds who are either out of work, education or training so clearly the whole scheme is an important move and it will offer vital assistance to some individuals.

Expansion

SportPesa have already been working hard to address employment issues in and around Liverpool as it has its European HQ in the city. From an initial staff of eight, the company now employs sixty people at those headquarters and it has also been looking to back community issues in the area.

The company’s head of marketing Shaun Simmonds said that SportPesa’s growth will continue and that they will keep looking for young-person initiatives to get behind:

We are early on in the journey of offering apprenticeships but it is something we will be doing in partnership with Liverpool Works to find out exactly what we can offer.

Mr Simmonds said.

The aim would be for us to eventually have apprentices working in all the areas of the business that we have in Liverpool.

The opportunity to partner with Liverpool Works fits in with where we want to take our business.

Mr Simmonds added that the reason they chose to get behind the people of Liverpool is the fact that there is so much local talent in the area and he admitted that while they have other sponsorship deals and betting partnerships both in the UK and beyond, their tie in with Everton Football Club is the ‘jewel in the crown’.

Progress

Those quotes underline a strong commitment that goes beyond SportPesa’s partnership with one of the city’s football clubs and into the wider community as a whole. We’ve seen a number or operators look to get behind local charities and other initiatives too and these are all good responses to some of the negative press that has been linked to sports sponsorship from gambling companies.

Liverpool Works is set to be a big success and it will be interesting to see how SportPesa continue to build on their positive relationship with the city in the months that lie ahead.