By ZIFF Press with Ogova Ondego
Published May 19, 2012

Zuku has announced its headline event sponsorship of the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) for a period of 10 years from 2012 to 2022, with a focus on supporting ZIFF’s film and festival promotion and marketing programme. The sponsorship will be for US$100,000 per annum and will include an incremental raise.

Richard Bell, the Chief Executive Officer of Wananchi Group, says the agreement represents a significant step forward for the partnership, which would see Zuku become headline sponsor of ZIFF.

“Of course, as the festival grows and develops we may both see different needs and opportunities – but this should give us a solid footing to start on,” Bell says. “We do not, however, mean to lock out other sponsors/contributors and collaborators. On the contrary, we would hope that our long term involvement would help attract greater consistency from other partners.”

Lauding the momentous occasion, Ali Mufuruki, Chairman of Wananchi Group, adds, “As a broadcaster, ZUKU is deeply invested in the growth and success of East Africa’s creative and content industries. It is therefore with pride that we enter into this association with ZIFF, which has for the last 15 years been instrumental in celebrating and enabling film-making from the region and around the world.”

Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, ZIFF Chairman, says he is overwhelmed by the high level of confidence in the company’s sponsorship of ZIFF.

Meanwhile, ZIFF plans to hold a ZIFF Sponsors Night in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on May 30, 2012.

“The aim,” a media release from ZIFF says, “is to say a huge thank you to all our sponsors and to bring together Friends of ZIFF and encourage other sponsors to support ZIFF 2012 which will run July 7-15, 2012.”

“Local sponsorship of cultural industries has slowly evolved over the last 5 years and now ZIFF boasts of over 75% of all resources as coming from local sponsors. After 10 years of donor backing we realised that donor support is indeed transient. Changing the ZIFF brand involved developing and maintaining a viable fit between the ZIFF’s objectives, skills, and resources and its changing market opportunities. This involved redesigning the festival’s image and its value offer, so that partners understand and appreciate what ZIFF stands for in relation to its competitors.”