Not many marketing companies in local football understand community and township football better than Papadi. For almost eight years, the company has entrenched itself in community and township football with resounding success. Established in 2001, Papadi offers customers an integrated marketing and communications solution, specialising in the management and development of sponsorship relations and contracts for and on behalf of customers.

Papadi has been coordinating the Cell C Easter Community Soccer Tournament for over three years. In this period, the company has organised hassle-free events, each of them specifically designed and delivered the relevant target markets. The Cell C December tournaments, which is been a big succes for the mobile operator, run over a period of three weeks with over 1 500 games.

CEO Grant Nicholls says they’ve done remarkably well for such a young company. Nicholls says his company has been to various corners of the country to ensure that people have sound administration tools to run township football tournaments.

"We have managed to get the guys to learn how to run tournaments, and they have done tremendously well," adds Nicholls.

He also points out that in some regions, "we had to teach organisers the basics of putting together a soccer tournament".

Papadi’s core competencies are sponsorships, branding and strategy. "We blend the client’s requirements with our specialist skills, to achieve a strategic fit; allowing us to competently deliver on the client’s brief", says Nicholls.

What started as a regional tournament in Gauteng three years ago has evolved into an event that touches the lives of communities in seven provinces across the country. Nicholls says running such tournaments is no easy feast. "We leverage the power of sport and build clients’ brands. We also have to juxtapose that with the needs of the community, to ensure that they are integral to events hosted in their neighbourhoods".

We have created a highly successful ’model’ - great staff, fantastic creativity and the contracting in of current and ex football celebrities, said Nicholls.

Papadi’s reach is not only limited to football, but extends to other sports as well. The company has helped pioneer several major projects, including the Total Triangular Cricket series involving the West Indies and Pakistan; Total’s sponsorship of Kaizer Chiefs, which won the prestigious Raptor Award for "Best large budget" sponsorship in 2000, and oil giant’s erstwhile sponsorships of Moroka Swallows and Ajax Cape Town.

Papadi is also the football agency retained by Old Mutual and implemented their partnerships with Swallows, Ajax Cape Town and Bloemfontein Celtic. "We also run their hugely successfull Old Mutual Mangaung Cup".

"I believe that Papadi is a true South African company, with a great understanding of the macro and micro business environments, and we prides ourselves in strategically fitting sponsorships to companies’ objectives," concludes Nicholls.