The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
THE appointment of Nhlanhla Dube as Highlanders chief executive officer was met with cheers from the club’s followers with social media abuzz with congratulatory messages that were laced with high expectations last week.
Dube is not new to the Bosso fold having previously held posts of representative (in Harare), committee member and secretary and supporters and members seemed to welcome his return as the start of a new era that could herald the change of fortunes for the struggling club. He replaced veteran administrator Ndumiso Gumede who retired at the end of last year.
Wallowing in a deep financial rut, like most entities in the country, Bosso has struggled financially year after year, accumulating debt that is inching towards $1 million while the coveted championship title has eluded 10 years and still counting.
An air of anticipation seems to have filled the halls of Highlanders that Dube’s ascension to the post could be the tonic needed to turnaround the floundering fortunes of one of Zimbabwe’s top football clubs.
Dube, however, feels it will take serious pulling, in the same direction, by the whole Highlanders family if any meaningful progress is to be made at the sporting institution.
The former secretary said Highlanders had a lot of catching up to do after failing to financially keep abreast of the changes that have taken place in football.
“The reality is that we either evolve or we die, examples are there everywhere of clubs that failed to adapt and they died. We need to appreciate that we can change executive after executive, board after board or CEO after CEO but if we don’t evolve into a commercially attractive and functioning entity we will die.
“We have survived for 90 years and soon it will be 100 because the club has managed to evolve through time but we have to evolve in greater leaps than we have been doing. The club’s value proposition will play a critical role because we have to remain attractive to potential sponsors, football lovers, footballers and other stakeholders who might partner us and want to add value to the club while also gaining from associating with Highlanders. The club’s attractiveness to outsiders is key and for me it speaks order, competitiveness, passion and sentiment but also speaks understanding and responsible behaviour from the executive, fans, members and indeed players,” he said.
Dube said the club’s biggest weakness has been failure to advance fast enough in tandem with changes taking place in other parts of the game. He said Highlanders had been formed primarily as an entertainment tool but developments in the game meant it has to take a new form and approach the business of football differently.
Dube said football had changed together with its expenses but the club was yet to find adequate answers to the financial requirements, adding the blame game won’t work as all club’s structures were complicit.
“As a member driven organisation the expectation is that financial support should come from members but with the economy difficult and reflecting on members’ wallets this has not happened meaning we have to go out and seek corporate sponsorship but this has been slow.
“Responsiveness needs to be broad and come from all stakeholders in the Highlanders family. Response from the terraces cannot be underestimated because they have an effect on the revenue drains, it is not only the fines that we pay that become a direct drain, but we would have people staying away because of chaos and corporates not sponsoring us because they do not want to be associated with violence. While football is an emotional sport and brings emotional reactions we should guard against those that become a big direct and indirect revenue drain,” he said.
Dube said it would be folly to employ a whole secretariat and expect they will bring answers to all the questions the club has, without everyone becoming part of the answer.
On merchandise he said fans have to come to the party and play their role while the club has to look into the issue of availing affordable products that meet market needs to ensure that it becomes a going revenue stream that will continue to grow over time.
Dube highlighted that exploitation of merchandise will need proper and careful planning and there would be need for structured financing for a lot of these products hence it will take time. He said there are a lot of ideas that need financing but they are not quick fix ideas although they are doable.
Dube said right now the club has a one-size-fits-all approach but needs to broaden the merchandise offering to come up with a good product mix to reach as broad a market as possible so that it becomes a going revenue stream.
He said the reduced sponsorship package from BancABC has left the club with a huge gap to fill as they have to pay salaries of ancillary staff, some members of the technical department, training and travelling expenses and winning bonuses, among others.
Dube said it was unfortunate that due to the taxation mix the club was only pocketing between 33-35 cents for every dollar paid at the turnstiles. He said the club has to quickly find a solution via a sponsorship that doesn’t rival their traditional sponsor.
Other revenue streams can come from the club’s businesses that include Manwele Beer Garden and the Clubhouse but these are not immediate, added Dube.
“I think it is important that as we map that desired destination we need to be realistic on what it is that we can achieve now, what we need to achieve, what can we do next and what are we aiming to achieve in the long term. Let’s not mix the vision but we should cast it broadly and understand it in its centrifugal manner; that we start from the centre going outwards until we get to the maximum, whatever the maximum is,” he said.
Dube said it is important that Highlanders must start structuring their communication to ensure that it reaches and is understood by fans, members, supporters, players and by their corporate partners.
He said he looks forward to the club scaling up its use of social media which hasn’t been the case.
Dube, who was the MDC spokesman and contested in the 2013 elections for the Njube/Lobengula Parliamentary seat, said his political past would not bring any baggage to his post at Bosso.
“People can take on different roles and there is always a place for everything and not every place suits everything. Highlanders is a sporting club with a constitution that has to be adhered to and I will be doing just that. I am aware of where I am and I am ready to serve the club without any prejudice. I am not a member of any political party and but I am certainly going to vote,” said Dube.
