Absa Kenya, the financial institution that has been working closely with the Kip Keino Classic World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event, will be one of the main sponsors for the Athletics Kenya World Championships/Commonwealth Games national trials this weekend.

Absa Bank Kenya will sponsor the trials with 12 million Kenyan shillings and is part of Absa Group Limited, an African financial services group that aims to be the pride of the continent. It has a presence in 12 countries across the continent and around 42, 000 employees.

“We’re part of a truly African brand, inspired by the people we serve and determined to always be brave, passionate, and ready so that we can make our continent proud,” is how the institution describes itself.

The other institution sponsoring the event is Lotto Kenya, coming in with 3 million Kenyan shillings. The lottery firm that has been working closely with Athletics Kenya in many other local competitions in the country describes itself as “creating millionaires across Kenya while helping charities and good causes as well as Athletics Kenya to improve the lives of the Kenyan people.”

From their own explanation, LOTTO is based on one of the world’s leading lottery formats 6/49 which is deployed by over 60 State-run lottery operators in North and South America, Australia, Asia and Europe including Germany on which the LOTTO game structure is directly modeled.

Below is the information released by Athletics Kenya on their Facebook handle regarding the sponsors:

This weekend’s national trials for the World Championship and Commonwealth Games received a major boost after Absa Kenya and Lotto Foundation came on board as sponsors for the two-day event.

The financial institution will pump in Ksh12 million towards the logistics of the competition whereas Lotto will invest Ksh3 million.

Speaking during the unveiling of the sponsorship at Riadha House on Wednesday afternoon, Absa’s marketing and corporate relations director Moses Muthui expressed their delight at partnering with Athletics Kenya once again to grow the sport in the country.

“We are truly and proudly a Kenyan brand and are happy to play a role in making athletics great again. Today is part of our continuing partnership with AK having worked closely during the Kip Keino Classic,” Muthui said.

Similarly, Lotto Foundation CEO Joan Mwaura said the company is delighted to be part of the national trials, which she feels will be one of the most entertaining sports events in the country this year.

“Athletics has been a big area of interest to us as a company for the past seven years. We have seen the growth in athletics to the point we are now cheering for sprinters. After the events this year, let us start working towards the Paris Olympics. It is great that the trials for the two competitions are being held jointly…this means we should be in for a great show,” Mwaura said.

At the same time, AK president Jack Tuwei thanked the two institutions for their unwavering support towards athletics. He urged Kenyans to show up at Moi Stadium, Kasarani in their numbers, and cheer on the athletes who will be in attendance.

The national trials will be held on Friday and Saturday culminating in the naming of a provisional team to represent the country in Oregon (July 15-24) and Birmingham (July 28-August

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