By Adedapo Adesanya
President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has said the African continent must have a profitable sports value chain which is crucial for its development.
He made this comment on the sidelines of the 2019 edition of the Africa Investment Forum (AIF), which was held from November 11 to 13, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“We have to export our talents. We need to have a profitable sport value chain. I think next year, there will be a massive investment in sports infrastructure across Africa because I think it is time for Africa to stop sending its talents away,” he said.
“We need to create our leagues here to also capture money from TV, radio and other media adverts,” the AfDB boss said further.
He further revealed at the same time that basketball promoters should create a basketball league for Africa like the American NBA.
“It is really important in terms of job creation and youth engagement,” Mr Adesina stated.
“We have athletes, people who can play. We are strong as Africans. You look at the United States, the people who play basketball and always win are Africans. Africans have the competence and ability to win. We must find Africa’s talents and make them profitable,” he added.
According to Mr Adesina, people like Masai Ujiri, a Nigerian basketball leader, who is currently General Manager of the 2019 NBA champions, the Toronto Raptors of Canada, was a model of the potential that the country has to offer.
He encouraged Africans to believe in themselves and urged the export of the continent’s sports talent.
“We have to believe in ourselves, we have to create our own league. In the same way, we export raw materials, cocoa beans in Europe, it is the same thing that we must do in sport”, he added.
The inaugural edition of AIF was launched in 2018 by AfDB and collaborates with Africa50, the African Import and Export Bank (Afreximbank), the Business Development Bank, the Development Bank of South Africa, the Islamic Development Bank, the African Finance Corporation and the European Investment Bank.
This year’s forum was aimed to raise capital for the financing of projects in Africa.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Dipo Olowookere