|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Herbert Mensah, newly elected president of Rugby Africa, the continental governing body for rugby in Africa, has said that the time is right for investors to seize investment opportunities that exist in the world of rugby and sports as “it is, in fact, extremely big business”.
Mensah said this at the ongoing Africa Investment Forum (AIF) 2023 in Marrakech, Morocco.
The sports industry in Africa is experiencing rapid growth, with the potential to generate jobs, improve public health, foster social inclusion, and drive economic growth.
“The future of sports surely is Africa,” Mensah said, adding “We need to change the models and criteria. Understand that money at the end of the day is what we will make.
“But rather than making it for somebody else — as we have done with gold, where we do not have gold refineries; oil, but not enough oil refineries, cocoa, but no chocolate factories — pick on the best athletes, and not wait for somebody else to do it.”
“The greatest athletes who give us the greatest enjoyment happen to be of African descent,” he said.
Read also: Sports minister to take ‘diplomatic action’ against Napoli
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the industry was valued at $7 billion in 2018 with an expected growth of $12 billion in 2027. Despite the potential, investment across Africa remains limited, with only 1 percent of startup financing directed towards the sports sector.
Recently, World Rugby (WR) officially recognised Nigeria as one of the fastest-growing nations in the world of rugby. It listed Nigeria as one of the six emerging rugby-playing nations that is experiencing strong growth in the sport. The WR said other nations that are doing well in developing rugby include Belgium, Singapore, Ghana, and Zambia.
Mensah emphasised the business potential of rugby across Africa. Since his election, he has called for a mindset change from African governments and international organisations to increase investment in rugby across Africa.
“We’re looking for a fundamental mindset change,” he noted at the one-to-one fireside chat of the AIF on Thursday.
“We’ve just come from France, it was an extraordinary World Cup and I have to congratulate Julien Collete and his team for putting that together. I hear the revenue intake from that alone is about 2.4 billion Euros.
“I think we need to get people to stop thinking about it as young kids going to kick football in the park and understand that it is, of itself, a business,” he said.
In June, Mensah delivered a keynote speech on treating rugby as a lucrative business venture at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa 2023 event in Marrakech, Morocco.
The AIF, founded in 2018, has mobilised nearly $143 billion in investment interest. The event brings together heads of state, business leaders, decision-makers, and investors to advance critical investment transactions to closure.
