'We are the chosen ones' - Africa Rugby president pushes for more investment in sports on the continent

The President of Rugby Africa, Herbert Mensah, has called for more investment to made into sports related issues on the continent.

Speaking at the Africa Investment Forum 2023 at Marrakesh, Morocco, he explained how, with his personal experiences and knowing the potential that African presents in the area of sports, there is the need for more focus to be given to investments in sports.

He also lamented, for instance, the kind of budget that Africa rugby, for instance, has as a whole, as compared to other similar associations of the world, and why African businesses should begin to concentrate more in improving the sports on the continent.

“I can’t help but say we are the chosen ones. We come from a continent that is blessed with something nobody else has; we really are. I grew up as a kid in school in Ghana, they would say, what do you have? people would raise their hands and say we have gold, we have cocoa, we have timber, we have whatever else and then they’d feel happy and sit down.

“And I guess that narrative has continued over the years. The question is, do you have the gold refineries? Do you have the oil refineries? Do we have the chocolate factories? What do we have? If you have all the greatness and the greatness is taken away from the continent, and then is re-imported, surely, that does not say as much as it should do for us in terms of development and growth.

“And from a sports perspective, I have grown up as a sportsman in a previous life when I was younger, but I have seen a situation whereby the greatest athletes of the world are either Africans, or of African-descent… when we look at the input of what is required, and I sit here as the President of Rugby Africa, with a budget of $2.2 million a year, with 39 countries, and yes, it is that we can compete and to become world champions…

“I’m proudly African and I look at this business of sports and I say sometimes, we need to re-address ourselves… do we have the products? Yes, the athletes. Are they the best? Yes. Is it what the global market is interested in? Yes. Surely, this must be the way that we look at ourselves… maybe we need to start looking at ourselves and say what is it that we as Africans can do for Africa? How can we look at our own models?” he said.

Watch his full interaction with Yvonne Ndege, a former BBC and Al Jazeera TV correspondent and journalist, in Marrakesh, below:





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