Rugby Africa President, Herbert Mensah on Tuesday, June 13, was guest at the Bloomberg New Economy GateWay Africa forum in Morocco where he spoke on a wide ranging issues bordering on ”The future of sports in Africa and what it means for economic development in Africa with solid local investment.”
Herbert anchored his submissions on his mantra that sports is big business everywhere else in the world and can be so also in Africa if we model ourselves and present ourselves as such to the global world by encouraging local investment in sports.
He pointed out that after all, the best athletes in the world are originally from Africa, and it is therefore not for lack of talent in Africa but the lack of investment.
Herbert in calling for a massive mindset shift in believing that it is possible, called on everyone, including African governments and corporate world to invest more in sports.
He said the major mindset change is critical in the running of sports in Africa because at the end of the day, like in everything else, it is all about the money.
He said that is the direction he and his team are taking Rugby, which he described as the second biggest sport in the world, and expressed the desire that all other sports in Africa will pursue that trajectory.
Below are excerpts of Herbert Mensah’s discussions with Bloomberg’s Tim O’Brien, Senior Executive Editor, Bloomberg Opinion.
Tim O’Brien (TO): Sports is obviously big business elsewhere in the world, can it be a big business in Africa?
Herbert Mensah (HM): I think so, it’s very much my mantra. I took office two-and-half months ago, off the back of fact that I believe that sport is big business. We need to model ourselves, present ourselves to the global the world. After all the best athletes in the world invariably come from Africa. You’ll find them in different nationalities these days, whether they are playing for national teams in Europe, or you see them in NBA finals, the potential in Africa is absolutely massive, so I do believe so.
TO: But they are often extracted from Africa, aren’t they, the athletes, and in some way it’s a kind of oil, or other commodities such as a precious natural resource and is being deployed elsewhere, is it one of the challenges here for the continent and the continent that is very diverse, many different countries inside of it (Africa). How do you retain that particular resource so it benefits both financially and culturally, can grow at home?
HM: I think you’re absolutely right. I think the opportunities, I was speaking recently to a Minister of Sport in a Southern African country, and she was espousing exactly the same, that economically, at a certain point where that kind of talent, you will have sportsmen having to move to other continents, to other countries in order to see their real worth. And I think that’s part of the challenge that we have here is, is to encourage investment back on our continent where you have many, if we’re talking rugby terms, there’s this extraordinary player called The Beast, who is from Zimbabwe and played in the World Cup and is larger than life, and had to leave Zimbabwe to go through to South Africa to show his greatness. And we have many, up in North Africa who go across to France to play, West Africa where I come from. I played rugby in England for Saracens. So people go out of their home territories and I think the key is to bring the investments back into Africa and for the rest of the world to understand that you can actually grow here, develop the market is global rather than linked into Europe or America.
Source: myjoyonline.com
