By Ike Everard

On Friday, Tanzania’s Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources & Tourism, Dr Hassan Abbas, was at Lumen Field for an event announcing new partnerships between the country and three professional sports teams in the Pacific Northwest - the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders, and Portland Trail Blazers.

The deal builds on a previous deal with the Seahawks and Sounders, which saw branding and advertising around what was then known as Qwest Field. The Vulcan Group, which owns the Seahawks and the Trail Blazers as well as a share of the Sounders, led the way on both sets of negotiations and hosted the announcement event.

Sounders majority owner Adrian Hanauer said he was grateful for the deal and is excited about working with the country of Tanzania.

"I once visited Tanzania. I can assure those who have never visited Tanzania that it is a good country. We had also visited [Tanzania] with [Seattle] Sounders which played against Young Africans (Yanga), Simba and the National Team (Taifa Stars) in the 2000s," said Hanauer.

Also present at the event were Tanzania’s Country Coordinator Rahim Zamunda Kangezi, the CEO of Tanzania’s Tourism Board Mr. Damasi Mfugale, and Dr. Abbas’s assistant Mr. Joph Kigingi. From Seattle were Seahawks executives including Amy Sprangers, David Young, Ed Goines, Zach Hensley and more, as well as representatives from Boeing, Starbucks, Delta, Google, and more including Seattle Deputy Mayor Greg Wong and Assistant Director for the Office of Economic Development Chris Greene.

“This exciting effort is fostering connections between communities locally, regionally, and globally – showing how sports and competition build cultural, economic, and tourist ties. We are enthusiastic about the new opportunities and exchanges this partnership will achieve and inspire,” Wong said.

Our Besa Gordon of The Rewind With Besa and HITS 106.1 was present as well to greet the delegation and experience the monumental event, along with Avery Barnes, the owner of TASWIRA which is an African Art Gallery in Pioneer Square.

“It was truly amazing to be in a space like that and around the minister, and hearing him speak about Tanzania was inspirational,” Gordon said. “My first thoughts were, ‘I want to go there’.”

Barnes was equally inspired, saying that she was grateful for the opportunity to attend and that she’s excited about the work being done both on the continent and off.

“It was so refreshing to see such influential figures come together in support of African countries,” Barnes said. “This gives me a lot of faith for our city as a whole as we celebrate together in building a fully inclusive and diverse environment in Seattle.”

The event marks a re-commitment between Tanzania and the teams, continuing the presence of the country in the Pacific Northwest.

The event also featured the screening of a video titled Royal Tour on the Lumen Field jumbotron, which featured the president of Tanzania and showed off various locations and destinations within the country.

“It was beautiful,” Gordon said. “I was blown away.”

Tanzania is known for it’s natural wonders including Mount Kilimanjaro (the worlds largest free-standing mountain at over 19,000 feet), Lake Victoria (the third largest in the world), the Island of Zanzibar, Safaris in the Ngorogoro Crater and more. The country also has a population of over 59 million people and is home to over 120 ethnic groups, each with its own unique culture and language. The official language is Swahili, although English is also widely spoken. The country's capital city is Dodoma, but its largest city is Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania has a rich cultural heritage, with traditional music and dance playing an important role in daily life. The country is also known for its artistic traditions, including sculpture, painting, and weaving. Tanzania is home to several national parks and wildlife reserves, including the Serengeti National Park, which is famous for its annual wildebeest migration.

The delegation also visited Converge Media’s Black Media Matters Studio as part of a tour which also included African Art Gallery Taswira and a pregame ceremony prior to the Sounders game at Lumen Field.

Converge Media Founder Omari Salisbury was honored to play host to the delegates and is excited about what the future holds.

“We’re very honored to have the delegation from the delegation visit the Black Media Matters studio. Personally, I worked in that part of the continet with Cloud Media Group for many years and I learned everything I know over there. We hope to be able to continue and build partnerships between the nation of Tanzania and Converge Media,” Salisbury said.

The full list of attendees is below.

Tanzanian Delegation

• Rahim Zamunda Kangezi – Country Coordinator, GM of African Lyon FC

• Hon. Dr. Hassan Abbas – Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources & Tourism

• Mr. Damasi Mfugale, CEO Tanzania Tourism Board

• Mr. Joph Kigingi - Assistant to Dr. Abbas and delegation Photographer

 

Seahawks

• Amy Sprangers, CRO

• David Young, COO

• Ed Goines, CLO

• Zach Hensley, VP & GM Lumen Field

• Gina Martinez Todd, Sr Director of Partnership Development

• John Pleas, Sr Director of Corporate Partnerships

• Luke Grothkopp, Partnership Development Director

• Drew Johnston, Director of Public Affairs

 

Sounders FC

• Adrian Hanauer, Owner

• Hugh Weber, President

• Bridget Griffith, VP Partnerships

 

Trail Blazers

• Andrea Bailey, CRO

• Chris Orechia, Commercial Partnerships

 

Government Offices

• Greg Wong, Deputy Mayor

• Chris Greene, Assistant Director for the Office of Economic Development

• Robb Zerr, Senior Managing Director, Washington State Dept. of Commerce

• Michael Woody, SVP Community Engagement and Public Affairs, Visit Seattle

• Mike Moe, Director of Strategic Partnership and Tourism Development, State of WA Tourism

• Peter Gushuru, Executive Director, African Chamber of Commerce for the Pacific Northwest

• Emmanuel Dolo, Director of Programs, African Chamber of Commerce

• Omar Abe, Chairman of the Board, African Chamber of Commerce

• Avery Barnes, owner of TASWIRA

 

Boeing

• William (Bill) McSherry, VP State and Local Government Operations

• Mr. Anbessie Yitbarek, VP Commercial Sales & Marketing, Africa

• Ms. Ying Liang, Business Director of Commercial Sales & Marketing, Africa

 

Delta 

• Reed Forrester, General Manager

 

Starbucks

• AJ Jones II, Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer

• Shami Marangwanda, Director of Talent Acquisition

• Evan Johns, Director of International Risk and Reputation Communications

• Anthony Auriemma, Sr. Manager of Government Affairs

• Ain Powell, Manager Partner Networks

• John Harris, Talent Acquisition Recruiter

 

Google

• Sarah Gavin, Head of Google Storytelling Engine

• Tim Sneath, Director of Product and UX for Flutter & Dart, Google

Photos by Seattle Photographer Jordan Somers on behalf of Converge Media