Craig Hendrickson (third right), National Baking Company director of sales and marketing poses alongside (from left)) Sunshine Girls captain Jhaniele Fowler, Theresa Beckford, Amanda Pinkney, Shanice Beckford, and Crystal Plummer, as well as Netball Jamaica board members Simone Forbes, Karen Roen, and Tricia Robinson (president) after announcing the company’s $10 million sponsorship of the team at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. (PHOTO: Contributed).
The National Baking Company is now a major sponsor of Jamaica’s national netball team, the Sunshine Girls.
National Baking Company Director of Sales and Marketing, Craig Hendrickson made the announcement during a cheque handover ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Tuesday.
As part of its corporate efforts to support a wide range of national development initiatives and programmes, the company committed $10 million to help and prepare the Sunshine Girls for the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa from July 28 to August 6.
“As a country that is always looking to our national sports teams to represent us well, to give us ‘bragging rights’ and to raise the flag high, it is our duty to support the Sunshine Girls,” said Hendrickson.
Sunshine Girls captain Jhaniele Fowler said, “it’s really good. They see in us what I hope other people will see in us. So thank you to National for coming on board, we appreciate it because it will go a far way in helping us to prepare for the World Cup.”
Netball Jamaica president Tricia Robinson is hoping that the partnership with National Baking Company will pave the way for more corporate support.
“Our budget for the World Cup is approximately $51 million, which is a huge sum, and so all the support that we get from corporate Jamaica is welcomed,” said Robinson. “We have to raise those funds ourselves and therefore National coming on board today and contributing $10 million is a step in the right direction for us and we’re extremely grateful.”
The Sunshine Girls are now preparing for a three-game series in England, starting next Wednesday.
That series will be the last international outing for the team before the Netball World Cup.
