In a world where determination and resilience pave the way for success, Janine Anthony stands out at the intersection between sports, gaming, technology, and the media.
Janine Anthony is an award-winning broadcaster, media entrepreneur, and a trailblazer in digital sports-tech transformation and innovation in Africa. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of LadiesMarch, a pioneering African network focused on reporting women’s football across the continent.
She holds a BSc in Marine Biology from the University of Calabar, Cross River State, and studied for her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at the University of Newcastle (England).
Between 2018 and 2021, she worked as a Reporter/Presenter and eventually Team Lead of the West Africa Sports desks for the BBC, where she became the first African woman to lead football commentary at a major men’s football tournament, doing so at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.
“This was totally unexpected, but I can say I was also fortunate because I absolutely work hard for everything in my life. Before I joined the BBC, I would save my money working several jobs and use it to pay for the LadiesMarch website, apply for accreditation to go for the Women’s Euros and global sports events. I was putting in a lot of work into professionally developing myself, so the lines absolutely fell into pleasant places for me, and commentary was one of those.”
As she has gone on to inspire a wave of female commentators, her journey was not without obstacles.
“Being a woman in a male-dominated field was not easy. I was, early on, often relegated to women-only work, not even paid or hired at all,” she shares. However, her determination never wavered. “Every challenge was an opportunity to grow. I networked, I freelanced, I travelled. I never stopped. I refused to let any bias define my capabilities.”
She regularly appears on Sky Sports as its African football expert, being a major feature on British television for the 2022 AFCON and FIFA World Cup, but her biggest break came as a Presenter, Reporter, and Field Producer for the Premier League, where she interviewed some big names like Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, former Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette, covering reports at Brentford, Watford, and about stars like Mo Salah and Sadio Mane in their native Egypt and Senegal.
“The fact that I was on those platforms as a Black woman, an African, as a first here, feels surreal.” One minute, I was a young Nigerian growing up in Okota, Lagos, and the next, I was complimented by the great Ian Wright for my impressive work on TV. A win is a win!” she laughs.
Having a decorated career did not stop only on-screen. While working as the Sports and Gaming Partnerships Lead for Sub-Saharan Africa at TikTok, she was a speaker at the Digital Skills Workshop Programme organized by FIFA. She was a FIFA The Best Awards panellist and was invited to the awards by the England FA in 2018. She also worked as a producer on the official 2023 Women’s World Cup documentary *All Roads Lead Down Under*, showcasing national teams’ respective journeys to the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
A recipient of numerous awards, nominations, and recognitions—including the 2017 FAME Foundation Women Shaping Nigeria Awards—Janine finished 9th in the AIPS Young Reporters Under 30 category and was named in 2024 as one of TikTok’s inspiring global women leaders, among other honours.
“These awards and nominations remind me of how far I have come. They serve as motivation, especially during times I may face self-doubt. It also helps when inspiring others because people like to understand what the rewards for risks put in look like. While these are amazing, the actual doing of the work is my single biggest win.”
A philanthropist and strong advocate for African rights, Janine helped create an organization, the Black Foreigners in Ukraine (BFU), that raised funds and provided other support in assisting to evacuate and relocate Black Africans from the war in Ukraine; her work in 2021 was covered by CNN.
As the Partnerships Lead at TikTok, she contributed to the growth of the creator economy by providing education, branding, and monetization opportunities with women’s football teams on TikTok under her management, amassing more followers in a short space of time compared to other platforms.
“For the first time under my watch, we had the TikTok Sports Creator of the Year for Africa and the Gaming Creator of the Year for Africa. That was the first time it was ever done. Just the sheer number of creators who have directly benefited—it’s humbling. Before I came, these didn’t exist as standalone verticals on the platform in Sub-Saharan Africa. The bigger categories were understandably entertainment and lifestyle, so we got to work localizing the global content ecosystem on sports and gaming, enabling creators, brands, publishers, and media to thrive.”
She is the Head of Public Relations and Communications at PawaTech, the owners of the brands betPawa and Mchezo. She has contributed to various projects, including betPawa’s Locker Room Bonus (LRB), an equal-pay sponsorship initiative that ensures players, female and male, are rewarded instantly with mobile money payments after securing a match win. She has also helped bridge the gap between brands and their consumers and audience.
Janine mentors young people, especially African women pursuing careers, including multi-faceted ones like hers.
“Time always reveals itself, and I always advise against putting pressure on oneself to understand everything immediately, to be everything too soon, or to be restless when things aren’t happening at the pace you want. It is important to stay ready through continuous self-improvement and development so that when those opportunities come, you will know them and succeed at them too,” she says.
