IATF2023 explores challenges and opportunities in African sports industry

CAIRO - 14 November 2023: The third edition of the Intra-African Trade Fair, IATF2023, shed light on the challenges and future outlook of the African sports industry.

During a session entitled "The Business of Sports Masterclass" on the sixth day of the IATF2023, Founder and President of SWA Sports, Aisha Shuaibu, highlighted challenges facing the continent, including political interference, corruption, lack of funding, limited access to quality education, lack of technical expertise and coaching, gender inequality in sports leadership, and limited infrastructure.

Discussing the future outlook, Shuaibu presented realistic solutions through partnerships, collaboration, more sports-preneurs, consistent investment, data and insights, favorable government policies, and government support and endorsement. She emphasized the need for reliable data in African sports.

“We don't really have reliable data with African sports,” she commented.

Shuaibu pointed out that revenue generation is a major factor for Africa. She noted that every country is striving to increase internally generated revenue, and sports presents a significant opportunity to achieve that.

Global sports industry revenue in 2021 reached about $400 billion, with global sponsorship spending hitting approximately $14 billion. Shuaibu highlighted the jobs created in the sports business in America alone, amounting to 11.5 million jobs, and questioned what Africa, with a population of 1.4 billion people, over 60 percent under the age of 30, can contribute.

Further detailing industry figures, Shuaibu mentioned the tech market's worth at $17 billion. Regarding revenues of different championships, she stated that the English Premier League generated about $4.6 billion in the last season, the NBA made just over $10 billion, the NFL over $18 billion, the NCAA about $1 billion, Formula One about $2.1 billion, and La Liga about $1 billion.

The IATF2023 serves as a platform for businesses to access an integrated African market of over 1.3 billion people, with a GDP of over $3.5 trillion, created under the African Continental Free Trade Area, according to the African Union.