The Ghana Chess Association (GCA) have renewed their relationship with Reiss & Co which will see the multi-divisional company continue to support the association’s flagship competition ‘The President’s Cup.’
This comes following a change in management at Reiss & Co with Jeffrey Sowa taking over taking over from Peter van der Wurff as Managing Director (MD) of the company. “We paid a courtesy call on him [Mr. Sowa] also in the presence of Mr. van der Wurff just to have that conversation,” said GCA President Peter Ameku in an exclusive interview with The Press Box.
“The President’s Cup was approaching, we needed to pay that courtesy call as a way to officially inform the new manager about the tournament and also about the preparations that we’ve been putting in place. It all went well, they have confirmed their interest to continue sponsoring the President’s Cup.”
Mr. Sowa spoke about his first introduction to chess saying “Honestly when I first heard that we support chess I asked the past MD [Mr. van der Wurff], why chess? why not swimming? why not football? and he made me understand the link; that we handle very technical products and services, chess is also seen to be that [complex] but we need to demystify both.”
“In terms of the meeting, it went well, it was a good discussion that we had with the chess society and the President [Philip Ameku] himself, he was here to just thank us for the support we’ve given to them all this while and for the upcoming tournament and how we can support them.” He further said
Reiss & Co has been a major supporter of Ghana chess for the past 10 years supporting its main showpiece ‘The President’s Cup’ and according to the company’s new Managing Director that isn’t going to change “We somehow are very comfortable with the chess space, it’s not a new game it’s an old game but in this country, it is not fully developed.”
“We want to hold onto that [chess] and develop it so that again we are known for bringing that growth in the game. So for now we are sticking to chess and if any other game comes up, not that I can really think of any. So it’s going to be for chess alone.” Mr. Sowa concluded
The 10th edition of The President’s Cup will kick off in July 2021 and is set to feature chess heads from around the continent as they compete for the yet to be disclosed grand prize.
Reiss & Co was established back in 1863 in The Netherlands and started operations in the then-Gold Coast in 1952. The company has offices and warehouses in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Obuasi and Tamale.
Today, Reiss & Co is a multi-divisional company, representing first-class overseas manufacturers through its five distinct divisions that are; Agriculture, Veterinary, Information Technology and Security Equipment, Mechanical Equipment and Industrial Safety Supplies.
For information on the relationship between Ghana Chess and Reiss & Co, you can check out our full interview with Reiss & Co. Managing Director, Jeffery Sowa below.
