DHIRAAGU – Taking Pride in Corporate Social Responsibilities

January 2009

Dhiraagu’s 20 years of service in the Maldives have also been 20 years of contributing to the community. As sporting and recreational events become increasingly bigger and more high profile, Dhiraagu has kept up, contributing to ensure that the relevant organising parties have the necessary financial and other assistance to carry out the events.

Some of our recent sponsorships were towards football, volleyball, basketball, athletics, badminton, table tennis, netball, cricket, bashi and baibalaa, while events in skydiving and water sports have also been supported by the company.
National newspaper Haveeru Daily, FAM, and Maldives Basket Association (MBA) have all recently presented Dhiraagu with prestigious recognition awards, marking Dhiraagu’s contributions towards the development and promotion of sports in general, and of football and basketball specifically.

Dhiraagu Under 23 Atoll Football Tournament

15 December 2008

Organised by the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports, the Dhiraagu Under 23 Atoll Football Tournament started off on 15 December 2008, at Haa Dhaalu Kulhudhuffushi.

Dhiraagu was the main sponsor of the tournament which was played between 4 teams, and following the final on 22 December 2008, Manager Kulhudhuffushi Operations Center Hassan Afeef awarded the trophy and Rf. 5,000 cash prize to the champions, Team Corals.

Dhiraagu often sponsors such tournaments in the Atolls, mainly held to improve relations between the various government departments, businesses and the island communities, and the Dhiraagu clappers and paper caps distributed to the spectators helped to bring a festive mood to this event.

Dhiraagu Supports Local Musicians

December 2008

Being a truly Maldivian company, Dhiraagu makes every effort to support local talent, and local musicians have always been featured in the collection of ringback and ringtones in MyTones.

It was therefore apt that Dhiraagu should exclusively sponsor the Maldives Breakout Festival, presented by FASYLIVE, in affiliation with Jar Music Group (UK). With the aim of opening the door to the UK music industry for Maldivian acts, and to give UK bands the opportunity to expand their music into Asia, the festival proved very popular with the local bands who were determined to make their mark. And their fans, equally determined, were able to show their loyalty through the SMS voting following the initial competition shown live on TVM.

Apart from SMS voting, Dhiraagu mobile customers were able to take advantage of SMS ticket purchasing, another first for Dhiraagu.

The Breakout Competition (Maldives) was held from 04 – 06 December 2008, and Traffic Jam was named as the winning band. The UK winners were Special Ks and After The Ice. Both bands joined the local acts in entertaining the crowds at the Breakout Festival on 12 and 13 that month.

Dhiraagu Futsal Tournament in Eydhafushi

November 2008

Dhiraagu’s Eydhafushi Operations Centre (EOC) organised a successful and popular futsal tournament in Eydhafushi, bringing together six teams from various government departments and businesses based in the island, including the Police, Media Centre, BML Eydhafushi Branch, Eydhafushi Post Office, Baa Atoll Education Centre, STO, Baa Atoll Atoll Office, Baa Atoll Hospital and Dhiraagu-EOC.

The event started on 1 November 2008, and although most of the teams put up a pretty good fight, in the end, it was the Police team who won 2 – 0 at the Final on 4 November.

Several of those involved in the tournament, as players or as organisers, commented that the event helped to raise spirit amongst their colleagues while at the same time improved the relationship between the participating offices. The best thing for the spectators, though, was the high level of play shown by the teams, leasing to one of the best futsal tournaments ever seen in Eydhafushi.

Dhiraagu – Sponsors the Maldives Hotel and Trade Exhibition (MHTE) for the 6th Consecutive Year

14 July 2008

The Maldives Hotel and Trade Exhibition (MHTE) creates numerous business opportunities, with the largest gathering in Male’ of international key decision makers, buyers and sellers from the hotel and tourism industry, as well as from other directly and indirectly related business sectors.
Organised by the Maldives National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, this is an annual event supportive of the local economy, which depends much on the hotel and tourism industry. Dhiraagu, ever an integral part of the business community, has been a key sponsor for the past five years, and continues with the sponsorship this year, too.
This year’s exhibition starts on 14 July, and as in previous years, is to be held at Dharubaaruge.

Dhiraagu – Bangladesh Music Event

22 August 2008

The Bangladeshi expatriate community in the Maldives forms a significant part of Dhiraagu’s prepaid customer base, and in recognition of this, the company held a musical event especially for them.

With the joint aims of communicating the benefits of Dhiraagu IDD service, publicising the permanent price reduction of our Dhiraagu Mobile Prepaid connection kits, and generally to improve the company’s relationship with the expatriates, the main attraction of the event was the Bangladeshi music band, who entertained the audience of about 2,000, with popular Bengali songs.

Held on Friday 22 August, at the grounds behind Dharubaaruge, the event concluded with a lucky draw, the winners walking away with a television set, a mini stereo set, a DVD player and 10 Mobile Prepaid connection kits. This was the first time such an outdoor musical event featuring Bangladeshi music was held in the Maldives, and it was received with enthusiasm by the audience, who certainly enjoyed the afternoon.

Dhiraagu Dhivehi League kicks off

24th June 2008

The biggest football tournament in the country Dhiraagu Dhivehi League 2008, will commence tonight at the national stadium in Male'. The opening match will be played between New Radiant Sports Club and Victory Sports Club. This year's league will last until September 18 and the winner will be qualified to next year's AFC cup.

Tonight the defending champions Victory will be facing New Radiant.

The esteemed tournament opens up opportunities to the strongest clubs in the whole of the Maldives including zone champions to compete.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Dhiraagu will be sponsoring this major local football tournament. Dhiraagu is one of the biggest contributors towards Maldivian football and also played a major role at the SAFF Championship 2008 hosted in Maldives and Sri Lanka by promoting the national team and the SAFF tournament.

Dhiraagu Broadband Road Race

7th June 2008

A joint press conference with the Athletics Association of Maldives will take place on Sunday, 8th June for the announcing of the date for holding Dhiraagu Broadband Road Race 2008. The date for conducting the popular Dhiraagu Broadband Road Race is being planned for Friday, 4th July 2008. The event was earlier planned for the month of June but due to several other major events such as SAFF, EURO and Dhiraagu Dhivehi League falling into this month, it was decided to conduct the road race during early July.

The colourful Dhiraagu Broadband Road Race was first conducted in 2007 and nearly 300 runners participated in this event. Unlike the previous year, during this year the participation categories have been separated as professionals and amateurs plus amateurs above 40 years and below 40 years. This would further help to increase participation and bring more professional and fun running athletes into this race.

Dhiraagu - Official Sponsor for SAFF Championship 2008

25th May 2008

Dhiraagu is proud to be one of the Official Sponsors for the SAFF Championship 2008 , which was hosted in Maldives and Sri Lanka from 03rd – 14th June 2008. The opening match of this tournament took place in Maldives on the 3rd of June at the Galolhu Grounds.

This is the first time such a major football event was conducted in the Maldives and Dhiraagu is proud to the only local company in Maldives to be a part of the SAFF Championship 2008.

Dhiraagu is one of the biggest contributors for sports in the nation, especially towards football and this sponsorship further accentuates this fact. The purpose of sponsoring and being a part of this event is not only to have our brand presence but to support this national level event as one of the top local brands and give support to our National team to win the SAFF Championship 2008. Dhiraagu wishes our National team the very best of luck and look forward for Maldives to win the SAFF Championship 2008.