For the third year running, SGBL is sponsoring the InterLebanon Club. This long-standing partnership highlights the importance of athleticism and sports. In honor of this event, SGBL invited press representatives to a brunch at Le Gray and several speakers took this opportunity to underline the importance of this partnership.
Through its support of sports and dynamic engagement with athletes, SGBL strives to reinforce its pivotal involvement and prime positioning as a key partner in the sporting world. With this partnership, SGBL expresses its passion for the power of sports like running to unify people. Sports like running convey vital values such as willpower, respect and cooperation. They also embody the positive spirit of competition and sportsmanship. All these qualities are equally prized by the bank.
During a moving speech, Joumana Hatem, Strategy and Marketing Director for the SGBL, stated: "This partnership with InterLebanon falls under the continuity and framework of our policy of social responsibility. Today, we strengthen this partnership which started three years ago and show our support for a club and athletes who distinguish themselves every year through their performance, the records they set, and their sportsmanship in local and international competitions. SGBL Group likes sports, which is the reason why we wanted to build this bridge between business and sport, a discipline which pushes people to surpass themselves through teamwork and solidarity and which facilitates social integration. We stand alongside these athletes, these women and men who give tirelessly of themselves, and who continue to develop and explore new possibilities. In addition to building an impartial platform which allows each person to express themselves, athletics also encourages fundamental values such as teamwork, professionalism, innovation and the will to overcome challenges. These values are mirrored in SGBL's culture which is what pushed us to invest in this direction. Above and beyond our commitment to sport, we have now extended this external platform internally, recognizing that our employees represent our greatest asset, and that their wellbeing is essential."
In parallel with this partnership, SGBL announced the launch of a sports program for employees taking part in the BDL Beirut Marathon. These employees will have the opportunity to be trained by the bank's partner, InterLebanon. This professional edge ensures they'll be trained under the best conditions and will receive health advice so they can be on top of their game come race day.
Roger Bejjani, founder of the InterLebanon Club, stated that: "The partnership between SGBL and InterLebanon, which was signed in 2012 and continues in 2014, has allowed the club to maintain its position as the national leader in the domain of athletics and road running. The supremacy of our runners in road racing events has been maintained throughout the years. Excluding the national records achieved by our athletes, regional titles-both Arab and Asian-have been won in the name of Lebanon by Gretta Taslakian, the uncontested sprint star of the Arab world. In 2014, our athletes, trainers, the club and our partners will, as always, do the utmost to beat records and stand on the podiums of the different race events. Those who come in 2015 will be even more ambitious thanks to the opportunities presented to them because of the Arab Games and the Asian Championship, not to mention the qualification rounds for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio."
May el Khalil, Beirut Marathon's President, took then the floor and encouraged media to shed more light on athletics in the same way they do for football or basketball, suggesting companies to follow SGBL's example in its commitment towards Lebanese athletes.
To wrap up the already energized event, SGBL got the journalists moving with a sports quiz that involved predicting who would be the first Lebanese runners to cross the finish line at the 2014 BDL Beirut Marathon.
