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Telkom sponsors Cape incubator

Paul Vecchiatto
By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent
Cape Town, 27 Aug 2008

Cape Town ICT incubator Bandwidth Barn has struck a deal with Telkom for a R1 million sponsorship per year for the next three years.

The deal follows a two-year sponsorship hiatus for the Bandwidth Barn, after telecommunications company Verizon stopped its annual grant of more than R800 000, which helped pay for connectivity.

"It has taken us two years to get a new sponsor. I suppose it is just the nature of dealing with a large company that sometimes sees a churn of staff that means that issues have to be picked up time and again," says Joshin Raghubar, chairman of the Bandwidth Barn.

In the past, the major sponsor received naming rights, such as the "Verizon Bandwidth Barn". However, Raghubar says Telkom's sponsorship would be strapped-lined, such as "The Bandwidth Barn partnered by Telkom".

The Bandwidth Barn is a project of the Cape IT Initiative, but has not been caught up in the turmoil its parent faces over provincial government funding issues.

"Thankfully, we never received any funding direct from government for our operational needs. There is some funding for business support projects, but that is unaffected," Raghubar notes.

He says the Bandwidth Barn will use the R1 million annual sponsorship to improve its ICT infrastructure and enhance business support services. It is investigating introducing basic administrative, accounting and marketing services, as well as mentoring programmes.

"Our current operational costs leave very little fat and now we have some leeway to improve things," Raghubar says.

Mulligan Pearce, Telkom brand executive, says: "We are committed to partner with companies, which the Bandwidth Barn supports as part of their mandate, and our three-year pledge reflects this."

Related stories:
CITI seeks private sector aid
Cape IT Initiative in trouble?

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