Nairobi, February 9^th, 2010 -The AccessKenya Group has today announced that it will sponsor the 2010 Africa Concours d’Elegance scheduled for September 26th at the Nairobi Racecourse to the tune of Kshs. 13 million.

This will be the 40th series of Concours d’ Elegance in the annual series organised by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club and will be the celebration in East Africa for the centenary of Alfa which was founded in 1910.

Announcing the sponsorship, Kris Senanu, the Managing Director of the Internet Division of the AccessKenya Group said, “Recognizing that this year’s event is a landmark in the history of the Concours our support includes a prize fund of Kshs. 1.5 million to the winning competitors.”

“We will reward successful competitors in the classiest event in the motor sport calendar. We are proud to be the title sponsor of the Concours which is recognized and sanctioned by the African Motorcycle Union (AMU) and has full Africa status for both cars and bikes,” added Senanu.

Explaining the link with the Concours, Kris Senanu said, “In 2009 we supported the Concours to celebrate the completion of our local fibre optic cable and the advantages for the Company’s 6500 corporate and residential clients. This year, the Concours will demonstrate that we are the leading IT and data experts.”

The AccessKenya sponsorship is expected to highlight the company’s capability as the data experts with over 10 years experience in data.

“It will take to a high level the hi-tech feel introduced to the AccessKenya Africa Concours d’Elegance last year which included a real time results service, SMS voting by spectators, Bluetooth proximity marketing and a digital media centre from where the media filed their stories real-time. Visitors should come ready to explore the world of internet and data,” said Senanu.

Apart from the digital media centre, reporters within and without the venue will be able to receive constant flow of results for the Concours website (www.concourskenya.com) and the AccessKenya website (www.accesskenya.com)

The AccessKenya Africa Concours d’Elegance Coordinator, Jane Njoroge said that the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Concours officials and competitors were grateful that AccessKenya was sponsoring the Concours for the second successive year.

“As we are celebrating both the 40th anniversary of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club and the centenary of Alfa, the generous prize fund of 1.5million shillings is a wonderful enhancement for this landmark Concours,” said Njoroge.

In addition to the prize fund, the sponsorship also covers the cost of trophies, spectator attractions including two bands, fly pasts, parachute displays and a grand finale. AccessKenya is also funding the production of tickets, car stickers, the programme, and press, radio and TV advertising campaigns.

The regulations for the event are set to be launched officially at the premiere of the Concours TV programme on February 23rd at 6.30 pm at the Nairobi Club. The regulations follow the pattern of previous years and list 12 classes for cars and eight for motorcycles.

Njoroge concluded, “To help entrants enjoy the AccessKenya Africa Concours d’Elegance, we have appointed Competitor Relations Officers for both cars and motorcycles. David Macharia will look after the interests of car competitors and Derrick M’Mbijjewe will be the equivalent official for motorcycles. The African Motorcycle Union (AMU) Steward will be Maina Muturi and Bill Parkinson continues as Chief Judge.”