The Football Foundation for Africa (FFA) hosteda two day event of the second edition of the Africa Football Business Summit on 14th and 15th September 2023 at the Weston Hotel in Nairobi.
The Summit started on a very high note with words of welcome from the FFA C.E.O who welcoming the whole world including the world football governing body FIFA which sent a representative. This was a platform to discuss the african football can be transformed in an economic value. Sarah Solemale the current senior Member Associations governance manager made highlights on governance models,collaboration,diplomacy and partnerships across the african continent in a view ton unite the african countriesa to transform the game. She also talked about the independence of member associations, undue political interference and the mediation FIFA makes among its mewmber associations. In a pannel discussion together with the Brazilian Ambassador to Kenya, he insisted that football revolution should be effected in africa in a professional way since foorball is an industry by itself.He explained how football contributes to 8 Billion dollars towards the Brazilian economy. The pannel made conclusions that member associations need to come up with good leaders and working closely with the players is key since thwy are the main actors who create the platform. They also highlighted that government asking to audit the funds they remitted to member associations is not interference although FIFA also audits it own funding.
In another pannel discussion on sports sustainabilty lead by Luca Uguzzoni from the AMBI GROUP UK he insisted that football stakeholders should speak the language coorporates understand as well as know what they want. He strongly stated that football is not charity and neither should it be treated as CSR in which mostly one cannot negotiate their value. Football stakeholders should understand what they are selling out to the stakeholders and give back value as well.The toipic also handled the future of sports media and broadcasting whereby a lot was shared about african media houses focusing on foreign content unlike local content. They also insisted that football should be a product to attract financing and this can well be done by stakeholders ensuring they create a strong connection with thier fanbase,they stream or rather make available match highlights in good quality, keep data about their football clubs since the value given over to coorporates can only be quantified in numbers.
The FUFA president Mr. Moses Magogo in his presentation focused more on the football infrastructure. He made examples on the ongoing CAF Rregulations whereby only Tanzanian teams are currently allowed to host their matches in their home ground yet all the other east african clubs will have to phost their home matches home away from home. He talked much about knowledge sharing and collaborations within the african continent to strengthen african leagues. He also made highlights on the East African pamoja bid to host the AFCON 2027.
The conference was very informative and ensured a platform for an african networking web. Three workshops on Sports and Intellectual Property,Optimising Individual and Team Performance and Sports and Sustainability were conducted as well. It was a summit of its kind.