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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

The Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA) have revealed cement manufacturing giant PPC Zimbabwe as their headline sponsor, as 1 000 musicians submitted their works before the deadline on December 31. 

The awards will be held at the Country Club in Newlands, Harare on January 25. 

Zima CEO Reason Sibanda said:

“We are happy to announce that we have clinched a sponsorship deal with PPC Zimbabwe as our headline sponsor. The amount for the deal unfortunately we won’t be revealing. We are happy and excited that PPC Zimbabwe have stepped up and we encourage more companies to sponsor the individual awards.”

He said Ingwebu Breweries will sponsor some awards during the ceremony, Cash Box Financial Services sponsoring the Song of the Year Award. 

“Ingwebu have come in to sponsor three awards during the ceremony. These awards are Tshibilika, Traditional Imbube and Dance/Gqom/Kwaito will be sponsored by Ingwebu Breweries. As for Cashbox Financial Services they are sponsoring the Song of the Year,” said Sibanda. 

He said over 1 000 entries were submitted.

“We are overwhelmed by the amount of entries that were submitted for the awards. We have over 1 000 of them. Right now, we are at the vetting stage of the submissions with January 11 set as the day when the nominees will be revealed,” said Sibanda. 

Meanwhile, PPC Zimbabwe’s Kelibone Masiye, (KB) gave more insight as to how much their company wants to support the arts. 

How do you align the new partnership that involves recognition of Zimbabwean musical works and your core business cement?

KB: Being a top brand, we believe ZIMA has begun a journey of recognising musical excellence. This is one way of giving back to the community that has supported PPC over the years. Music plays a crucial role in communicating profound messages in any environment. While PPC is more into science and engineering, we believe the Arts are a critical fibre of our society and they need the support of corporates like PPC to grow, cultivating a positive spirit of constructive competition in order to continuously improve the quality and standard of music in the country.

PPC mantra is Strength beyond, and we believe in strengthening communities in our markets because we are stronger together.

Is this relationship once off or long term?

KB. Our commitment is centred on excellence, and strength. We therefore believe in the growth of ZIMA, and the partnership that we have started. The most important issue is the recognition of talent and PPC plans to continue playing a role in supporting communities, growing talent and helping those in need.

Do you have any related partnerships that you have entered into?

KB. PPC Zimbabwe has also been at the centre of an innovative arts partnership with the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, having launched PPC Imagenarium awards. The platforms encourage artists from around the country to create art using PPC cement. We have been amazed by the amount of talent Zimbabwe has from all spheres of society. We passionately believe in ploughing back to the communities that have supported our brand since 1913.

What are your expectations from ZIMA?

KB. We expect an excellent, top-class event that will leave the whole country looking forward to the next one. 

The success of the event will determine the future of the music industry in the country. As PPC we can only say strength beyond!