THE Heart Women Soccer League sponsor and Yadah FC owner Walter Magaya has paid tribute to former Warriors manager Wellington Mpandare for playing a significant role on his way to becoming an astute sports administrator and successful businessman.
Magaya believes that he is a product of other people's efforts, hence his benevolence towards supporting local sports development regardless of discipline, gender or creed.
The Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries leader and The Heart Group of Companies president has scored a first by sponsoring The Heart Women Soccer League to the tune of US$320 000 coming midway into.
In addition to that, over US$60,000 towards the successful hosting of the inaugural 16-team tournament hosted at his Yadah Hotel. In essence, the hosting of over 800 delegates over six days of the tournament won by Airforce side Chapungu Queens cost over US$1 million in accommodation, meals and other logistical items, yet he remains humble and unperturbed by the financial resources poured.
"It's always exciting to help some of the people that I've been helping. When I help people here it's because I have been helped, they helped me. So, you always want to do the same thing," said Magaya.
"I've been helped. I don't have a powerful background that I can say I inherited. "But I've been helped. I've been able to help since I was 16 years-old. There are people who participated in my life to become what I am. Let's talk about Wellington Mpandare himself if you know him.
"He assisted me when I was 16-years-old. "He showed me the way to rise to the top. Cuthbert Chitima showed me how to make money when I was very young. There are a lot of people that contributed to my life for me to become what I am. So, I believe that if people are going to change in their lives, there is a need for help. So, I'm helping because I've been helped."
Last weekend Magaya attended Mpandare's daughter Stephanie's birthday party and graduation ceremony at Shumba Dam in Manresa, Greendale. He gave a R50 000 present and reaffirmed his brotherly affection towards his mentor. Stephanie graduated with an Honours Degree in Purchase and Supply Management from the Chinhoyi University of Technology.
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"Wellington is my brother and I had to be here to show my gratitude for what he has done in my life. He showed me everything that I now boast of. I didn't know that this was a double celebration. The father spoke more about the birthday, so I brought R25 000, but now I will double it since it's a double celebration. Please allow me to bring the balance," added Magaya.
He has promised an improved package for The Heart Women Soccer League in excess of a million dollars next season.
"For anything to have an attraction, you see, it has to have some sense of reward. So I believe that our sporting opportunity has not been attracting many people to join because there's not much reward than to get injured and get cascaded out of the normal way of surviving," said Magaya.
"So we are coming up as a sponsor, we are looking at bringing some sort of entertainment, some sort of joy to bring people into following their passion. Hence the word heart. The word heart was derived from the sense that we want a person to follow their passion more than anything else.
"But following passion without being rewarded may not bring that consistency when it comes to people joining sports. So bringing sponsorship is a way of encouraging our youngsters to then be part of such programmes."
