Dubai: Yingli Solar may perhaps not sound too familiar in the world of football. The Chinese company, with 21 branch offices and subsidiaries is a sponsor of the 2014 Fifa World Cup that gets under way in Brazil later this week. In addition, the company that was established in 1998, also sponsors the US men’s and women’s football teams along with Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.
In 2010, Yingli Solar became the first renewable energy and the first Chinese company in history to sponsor the Fifa World Cup. Part of the company’s global sponsorship was building 20 football centres for children in South Africa under their programme ‘Football for Hope. Energy for Hope’.
Dimitrios Bachadakis, managing director of Yingli Green Energy SEE GmbH, has more than a decade of experience co-operating with the Yingli Solar Group.
In Dubai on a business visit recently, Bachadakis outlined Yingli’s aspirations for upholding and promoting football around the world in this chat with Gulf News. Excerpts of the interview:
Gulf News (GN): Solar energy and football... how exactly does the Yingli’s involvement with Fifa work?
Dimitrios Bachadakis (DB): On the one side, solar technology has developed very fast in the past few years and we are growing at a very fast pace as an industry and a company. On the other hand, solar power is a green energy so aspects like bringing electricity to remote areas holds a special significance.
Hence, social aspects become a very key principle for us at Yingli. We had to find a platform where we could quickly pass on our message to the world by reaching out to maximum number of people in a short time. In football, we saw a platform that unites people and at the same time have a social aspect to go along. What was better than choosing football as a platform to transport our message? We decided to take up this pioneer position to step in with an agreement with Fifa for the first time in South Africa, and now in Brazil.
GN: Do you think this sponsorship move has paid off for you as a company?
BD: You cannot separate and sift various aspects here. What we have certainly seen is the awareness of solar power itself and Yingli as a brand has increased dramatically all around the world because people, through this wonderful platform of football, can touch and feel and hence, relate with solar. In return there are clear pay-offs.
[Through] higher awareness, we find an economical and financial technology that affects society leaders and authorities and they open themselves to new technologies that we have to offer. Besides the technology we have the affect that comes through application of these technologies. It has a big value for us and as a consequence we can say that this sponsorship has been a great success for Yingli.
GN: What could be the future like through Yingli’s commitment to football?
BD: We will certainly continue the solar energy issue. We won’t be restricting ourselves to a particular continent. We are a topic in many regions including the United States, China, south-east Asia and South America. We have so many emerging markets with great interest from all areas alongside this explosion of interest in what we are doing. We will certainly continue with engagements and we will continue evaluating additional areas.
GN: You started off with Fifa and then Bayern Munich came in the frame. How has that deal worked out for Yingli?
BD: For sure, we are going to extend our contract with Bayern Munich. This is not yet official, but it is more or less a done deal. It is our intention to continue this great success with Bayern Munich. But with Fifa, we are now looking forward to Brazil 2014 after which we will have an internal evaluation to see where we are headed together. And at the same time we are evaluating additional options to see how we will expand further.
GN: In eight years’ time, the Gulf will have its own World Cup with Qatar playing host in 2022. Do you see any plans to bolster your presence in this region?
BD: Well, it’s not just about the Gulf but the wider Middle East region is extremely promising due to it being blessed with sun. We are very much certain that Yingli will be able to integrate solar into the energy production mix in the region. We strongly believe that we can be present in a big way here in the not too distant future. We have already started establishing offices as we strongly believe in the business potential here. This will certainly reflect on the marketing activities, and since we do football, we will definitely evaluate football-related activities and partnerships here.
