Mondelez Ireland has extended its sponsorship of Paralympics Ireland until March 2017.
The parent company of Cadbury has signed a three year sponsorship taking the partnership beyond the next Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.
It is the first official partner to come on board as a sponsor of the 2016 Irish Paralympic team. The investment follows previous Cadbury sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic teams and the rationale behind it is one that is becoming more important to more and more companies.
Engaging
“This partnership is all about engaging our staff and stakeholders in something that can really get them close to the pursuit of success,” said Mondelez Ireland Chief Executive Justin Cook speaking to Sport for Business yesterday.
“As a group we employ 900 people across Ireland. We have many targets as a company, from revenue to efficiency but one of the ones that we are seeing as increasingly important is the engagement of our staff.”
“This partnership with Paralympics Ireland goes right to the heart of making sure we give something special to them so that they can put something special into the time they spend at work.”
“It is a great opportunity for them to see up close, to learn at first hand and to share the journey that these incredible athletes undertake.”
“We set ourselves a high target but like any we intend to beat it and this is an imaginative way of making sure we do. Staff are given time to get involved and we see the benefit from the little extra they put back having seen what others are capable of.”
Talent
“A particular emphasis of the partnership will be on talent identification with a potential camp possible as early as September and ambitious plans to create ‘festivals’ of Paralympic Sport where the athletes and supporters can get to experience what we have to offer,” added Paralympics Ireland CEO Liam Harbison.
“We have new sports coming in including Para Triathlon for the first time in Rio and we will be focused on producing new talent to represent Ireland as well as those who have gone before.”
“The additional investment from Mondelez means we can do this while at the same time developing the current great athletes like Mark Rohan, Ellen Keane and Gary Messett who joined us today for the launch.”
