October 9, 2025 • 48 mins
In this powerful episode, former NBA All-Star Luol Deng and Clare Akamanzi, CEO of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), share the untold story of basketball’s rise across the continent 🌍🏀. From South Sudan’s historic journey to the BAL’s mission to empower Africa’s youth, they discuss the challenges, opportunities, and vision for the future of African basketball and business.
They break down what it takes to build infrastructure across 54 nations, why only five arenas in Africa are NBA-ready, and how the BAL is giving over 1 billion people access to professional basketball. Luol Deng calls for stronger business regulations and urges global investors to seize this moment to build Africa’s sports economy.
This conversation goes beyond basketball — it’s about legacy, leadership, and the power of investing in Africa’s future. 🇸🇸🇷🇼
#LuolDeng #ClareAkamanzi #BAL #BasketballAfricaLeague #SouthSudan #NBAAfrica #InvestInAfrica #EarnYourLeisure #MarketMondays #AfricaRising #SportsBusiness #YouthEmpowerment #BasketballInAfrica #Rwanda #AfricanExcellence
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, let's start with you. You know, your career, coming from
the highest levels of basketball, right like playing in the NBA,
being a star in the NBA. What made you, you know,
want to do a three sixty move and come back
home and you know take over South Sadan basketball, right
as opposed to just you know, being a GM at
(00:58):
an NBA team or you know, being a coach in college.
Like you know that a lot of people probably would
have took that path.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, great question.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
You know, for me, coming back was important because obviously
being from the continent and coming out of you know,
South Sudan and you know, going to Egypt UK the
path that you know, I talked about a lot, but
it's important because I remember, just to go back. My
(01:31):
first time back in South Sudan was twenty ten, right
before the independence. I remember, I'm gonna do had a
vision of you know, us doing basketball camps in five
or six different countries every summer. In these camps we
were doing outside outdoor courts. Whoever we wanted to tag along,
(01:57):
we would come with us. And it just kept growing
and then kept growing. And I just remember, and I
said it the other day, I came from, you know,
a background that's so similar to all these kids that
we were trying to provide an opportunity for. And I
just believe that the talent is there. You know, it's
(02:20):
just about the organization and an infrastructure, the same things
that we talk about, you know, And I've just got
to have you know, I've learned so much from basketball,
whether it's my high school coach, whether it's playing for
Coach k whether it's playing in the NBA for scotscow Tipodeal.
(02:42):
And as a player, I always try to read the
game so I knew, you know, throughout my camps and
everything that I was doing all over the years, the
talent that we had and the opportunity that we had,
and it was always been my dream, you know, to
put South Sudan in a map, but also or to
promote basketball and just to show people the potential in
(03:04):
the continent.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
And the timing was just right.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
When I retired, U b a l obviously was you know,
on its way, and I just knew that there was
gonna be a lot of focus within the continent with
the game of basketball.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I was.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I was part of the NBA game in South Africa.
I just seen you know, the growth of it to
where we are here now today, and I wanted to
be a part of it, but also to have my
input and you know what I can do in South Sudan.
Obviously everybody knows the story, but when when I took
(03:39):
over that program, you know, I knew that it's a
lot to be done. But the one thing that I
knew was that if we were able to have a
great national team and compete, it will obviously bring excitement
and joy to the whole continent, but it will also
raise a lot of questions that needed to be answer
(04:01):
and we're still working on those and how do we
get there?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
So I knew right away as soon as I retired,
I needed to be back here and kind of put
in my blueprint.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
And we thank you for that, my brother Claire. Let's
talk about where we're at today, five years of the
ba L. Congratulations, not one person clap. I'm not sure why.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
We talk about the vision for it.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Right when you created the idea, we're coming up with
the idea, there was a vision of blueprint for it.
I want to ask you look five years post that.
Has it met your expectations? Has it development going according
to plan? What have been some of the struggles into
this five year anniversary of b AL.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Thank you, and first of.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
All, Rashad and Troy, welcome to ba L and welcome
to the now conference. And thanks to all of you
that are still here. We talked about resilience. You're such
a resilient audience. You've been here the whole day. But
back to your question. So, when NBA decided to invest
in Africa, I think there were a.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
Number of things that were obvious.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
One of them that has been said, you know throughout
the day is that there's talent in Africa. In fact,
today in NBA, about ten percent of our players have
either directly or indirectly some links to the African continent.
Either one of their parents or both their parents are
from the African continent. Ten percent and that's about fifty players.
(05:30):
So already there's talent that's making its way to the NBA.
Now imagine if we were to be intentional about identifying
harnessing that talent, I think those numbers would be even
more because Africa has has been said, the whole day
has talent. But also we know that not everybody can
go and play in the NBA. The NBA is about
five hundred players and we have one point five billion
(05:53):
Africans with a lot of talent, and not everybody will
have a chance to go there. So how do we
create opportunities for African players or talent to stay on
the continent and play professionally in a league such as
the bal that we have here. And that was one
of the thought processes that went there. But also for
those of you who have you know, great fans of NBA,
(06:14):
you know that you have to wake up early in
the mornings. You know, My husband is one of those
who always works up to a m. Three and four
m am to switch on the lights and watch a
basketball game. But when you're here, you watch a basketball
game in no more hours, right at two pm at
seven pm, and you can go to bed in normal hours.
And so that means we can actually give access to
(06:36):
the game of basketball to a lot more people that
don't have to work up at two a m Or
three and who love the game of basketball. So bringing
that opportunity as well to our funds to give them
something that they can interact and access was also very
very important. The other one who's also being intentional around
building the talent. I mean, we've talked about NBA Academy.
We've had about some of the players come and Maluach
(06:57):
that was talked about in the previous panel, and a
couple of others whol Reach chump Chi who's playing for
Toronto Raptors. All of them went through NBA Academy and
we expect to see even more coming out of that.
We have other talent programs that we work very closely with,
like Seed Academy in that Amadu founded in Senegal that
(07:18):
has had a kind of good relationship with the NBA
Academy in terms of supporting to nature the talent in
a much bigger skill. So all of that is really
about how do you identify that talent. But the last
thing is something that my Deputy Commissioner likes to talk about,
Mark Tatum. The first conversations they had when they came
to Africa at the time more than five years ago,
with heads of state, with policymakers, and it became very
(07:41):
clear to them and the NBA that if you're going
to positively impact AFRICAAN, you do to think about the
youth of Africa and what do the youth of Africa need.
We've had statistics like seventy percent of the African population,
which is one point five billion people, are young people
below the age of thirty. So if you're going to
really impact Africa, you have to think about the youth
(08:03):
and you have to think about how to support the
creation of jobs for this youth. So outside the court,
you know, apart from the talent those that will play basketball,
also creating economic opportunities that will support the youth to
get jobs and to support this ecosystem of basketball by
having the bal in Africa in the countries that we play.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
Today, we're playing four countries.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
Our vision is to play many, many more countries, and
you can only imagine and we playing many more countries,
the impact will be even more.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
But today to fifty.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
Million dollars, thirty seven thousand jobs in just four seasons,
imagine how much more transformation we will do if we
play in forty countries instead of form in the next
ten twenty years.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
You can just imagine.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Well, that's actually my next question in both of you
guys can answer this as far as how do you
measure success? So looking at five years in the future
or ten years in the future, right, what does success
look like for this league and just basketball and hole
when it comes to the continent Africa? Is it thirty
teams across the continent? Is the grassroots program like AAU
programs that we see in America? Like, how do you
(09:15):
envision the content in Africa as far as a successful
movement when it comes to not only NBA basketball, but
basketball as a whole.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Even both of you, yeah, I think if you look
back to what I was saying maybe around twenty ten
or even before me, I think if you look at
how basketball has been developing, in the continent to begin with.
You know, when I first came into the league, everybody
(09:45):
was used to NBA. I mean African players being you know,
big guys who just rebound and you know, blockshot. Obviously
Hakeem Olajuan had the skill, but when he first came over,
he was given the opportunity because of his height and
so on. So guys, we're just looking for tall African
players who you know, are athletic. As the game went on,
(10:09):
I remember when I first came in the league, it
bothered me that I was only, you know, the only
I shouldn't say the only, but one of the few
African players who are a primitive player and so on.
And now if you look at the league now with
you know, Siakam and Embiid and all these guys that
are so skilled, it just shows you where the game
(10:30):
is going and where the development is going. So I think,
as much as you know, we are still improving, you
got to give credit to where we are today. And
as class said, how many players in the NBA or
just around the world that are playing the game that
have you know, roots back to the continent or you know,
came directly from the continent. And now we're seeing guys
(10:52):
like Command, my Ludge and so on coming straight out
of you know, the academies in Africa, but also go back.
I think we also need to focus on the grassroots
side of things, on programs that have proven themselves, programs
that you know, continuously keep on, you know, bringing on players,
(11:15):
but also you know, developing not just the players, but
the coaches, the referee and so on. And I always
talk about I'm gonna does is a great example with
CED Academy. As long as you know, I've been back
in the continent, Seed Academy has existed, and Seed Academy
has given so much to the game of basketball from
(11:37):
the continent. How many players came out of there, how
many players are playing in Europe and so on. Those
type of program we need to protect and enhance and
also make some type of connection with you know, the
US and Europe, because no matter what, we have to
admit that, you know, the game is more advanced in
those places, and there's a lot of coaches that have
(11:59):
so much information that they can you know, share and develop.
And as far as I think, as far as B. A. L.
I think we all see the vision, you know, there's
great leadership within the B A L. I happen to
be a part of it, and I see it every day,
and I see that, you know the direction and what
(12:19):
we're trying to accomplish as a league, And as Claire said,
it's it's really amazing when you look at the BA
L of how many opportunities it's creating the panel earlier
people were asking questions on how to get involved and
the way I see. I mean, obviously the NBA, it's
a global and it's been going on for years, but
(12:40):
when we look at BA L in the continent, and
it's not just basketball, there's so much that comes with it.
Even us sitting up here because of B A L.
There's so much we're talking about that will motivate others.
And we're talking positively consistently about the continent and we're
creating jobs. But we're also connecting it with you know,
with the culture. We're connecting it with the youth and
(13:02):
so on. How can we pull more people in, not
just the fans, but how can we create more jobs
and so on? So I think the direction is clear.
You know, everybody, everybody has an opinion, but I really
got to trust on the leadership to where it was
and where it is now and where it's gone.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Claire, I want to talk about that as well. Right,
infrastructure is important. It's funny I was watching the game
on Sunday and I'm looking at an arena.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I'm like, this is a stale art arena.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
There's intentionality, the fans are engaged, but this is bigger
than basketball, right, and not only are people visiting Rwanda,
the people are investing in Rwanda. I know you've been
a part of that process long before the BA l
but talk about the intentionality to combine those two things
to say, yes, this is basketball, but no, this is
a place where you can come and invest and potentially
see growth here.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
Maybe before I come to that, your question about what
does success look like? And I think we've talked about jobs,
We talked about economic impact. We think, you know, BA
will contribute five point four billion dollars in ten years.
We think jobs will come to six fifty thousand.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
It is.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
But my real measure of success that I think about
is I remember a few weeks ago, I went to
hike in Kenya in a place called Gong Hills, and
while there, I picked a conversation with a stranger and
soon or later I told this person that I worked.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
For the NBA.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
And then she called her son quickly and said, this
lady works for the NBA. And then the son says, oh,
my god, you work with the NBA National Basketball Association.
I said yes, and then he said, have you met
Lebron James? Can you connect me to Lebron James. While
my answer was not to both questions. My measure of
(14:51):
success is hiking somewhere in China ten years from now,
fifteen years from now. And I told somebody about my
job in NBA, and they say, oh, have you met
Node Happy Mana? Have you met Washira from Nairobi? Have
you met Haruna from Dakara? And they say, And I
(15:14):
hope then I can say yes to both.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
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Speaker 6 (16:56):
Yes, I can connect you to Haruna too, because in
China they're watching BAL and they're following every season of BL.
So that is my measure of success many years from now.
But maybe back to your question around intentionality, I think
one of the reasons that the BAL partnered with Rwanda
at the very beginning was because we found that we
(17:18):
had a meeting of minds in how we were intentional
about bringing something new to African fans. We had a
vision as BA L to start a league, but to
do that, we needed our countries to invest, even investors
to invest in infrastructure in arenas, but also everything around basketball,
the teams, the federation it is in. But we also
(17:40):
knew that by coming to the market with NBA BA
L was a big incentive for countries that had similar
minds to invest in it because they trusted NBA with
the truck record that NBA had done and they would
trust what NBO was going to do with the BL
as well. And so you know a few years down
the road when you look at Randa for example, I mean, yes,
I saw from the beginning when BL came, when thinking
(18:00):
about what are we going to do with bl and
if you look at it today, not only has Randa
hosted five seasons, the economic impact has been great.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
I think we've talked about that.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
But one thing that I see a big improvement is
that we hardly saw any competition from the federation too,
is very low. But when you look at the teams
in the federation, all of them investing one of the
team's Tigers is you know, getting investment from the pension
fund and I saw Louise from the pension fund. Here
they're investing in one of the teams Tigers. I know
Berd is investing in their patriots, you know, reg among
(18:32):
other teams are also getting in investments from the local
companies in Wonder, whether it's development banks or pension funds,
and all of that is helping the level of competition
at the local.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Level go up.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
And when I meet the Tigers team, they're like, did
you see that? Now we've come to number two from
numbers you know, close to ten. And they're like, wait,
next year we're going to come to bal That is
the level of competition we're seeing not just in Wonder
but in federations across the countries where we play. And
whether it's Senegal or Morocco ag to render the level
of player I think has been incentivized, among others by
(19:04):
the bal being there. But we also know that in
addition to building the talent or building this ecosystem, infrastructure
is very key. And today in Africa, can you believe
that there are only five arenas in the whole of Africa,
in the fifty four countries of Africa that are ready
to receive an NBA or BA l GAM. Can you
imagine that just five out of the fifty four countries.
(19:26):
But the many others that could just do with some
work and you know I renovations, improvements, refurbishments that could
bring the number much higher. The good news is that
when we speak to heads of state, when we speak
to the ministers of sports, when we speak to investors,
more and more of them as seeing that investing in
infrastructure and investing in sports is actually a.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Good business for them.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
And I believe that in the next few years we're
going to see more arenas. I know, Beninis, you know,
building one, Legosi is building one, and goal as renovating one,
and we're going to see many of those coming up
across the continent and This is how we're going to
see the economic impact and the talent impact grow even
much more than we've seen today.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Sure as well talking about investing in real estate, Loo,
I know you you're having real estate investor. We have a
mutual friend, David Growth. So what is your thoughts as
far as investment on the continent and what are you
currently involved in?
Speaker 3 (20:22):
What's your thoughts on real estate? Yeah, this turned real quick.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
You know, I think right now it's the right time
to really invest in the continent. I know that as
people who invested in a past, but there's a lot
of great opportunities. The most important thing that I've learned
is understanding in in uh, in my situation that the
(20:50):
rules are completely different.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
At the end of the day, there's an you know,
there's an agenda and a perspective that's made on the
continent that keeps a lot of people shy and keep
a lot of people away. But you know, once you
come into the continent and you understand the impact of
investment and the return of investment, your mind changes quickly.
(21:17):
And I think the most important thing uh. And we
talked about it earlier. Within within each country in Africa,
the rules are different, and the most important thing are
you know, the people that you work with and the
individuals that you surround yourself with to really guide you.
I always give an example of you know, there's an
(21:37):
investment that I made in New York, and you know,
everyone talks about corruption and the continent and so on,
and I remember in my investment in New York, all
I had to do was to finish the project. There
was an electricity line that needed to you know, instead
of being up and needed to go on the ground.
And there's an electricity company that's supposed to take care
(21:59):
of it. And six months, eight months, I can't get
a hold of them or their schedule is is busy.
It took one visit to the mayor's office, a couple
of pictures on social media and so on.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
And the next day they were there.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
But that's not called corruption because you know, I'm going
through a company. In the continent, you do the same
thing where you go through one individual that you gotta
take care of, but you know, so it's similar rules
is just understanding. But in the continent there's you know,
amazing opportunities. And I think earlier with the earlier podcast,
(22:38):
what we really I mean not podcasts, but when we
were up here in the panel, I spoke about really
the continent focusing on having similar rules that makes it
easier to keep you know, growing the business and involving
other people, you know, ministries coming together and implementing rules
(22:59):
that really benefits you know, both sides or different countries.
Because right now, if I wanted to invest in Rwanda,
it's safer to invest in Rwanda. I could understand the rules.
I have people that can take me through it. But
I'll keep on coming back to Rwanda because of that.
And there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're trying
(23:20):
to bring the continent together, it makes a lot of
sense if you know the implementation are the same within
South Todain or Rwanda for example. So when I go
back over there, I know the rules and how to
follow it, and I think that's kind of keeping the continent,
you know, help back in terms of growth. And another
thing too that I always like to, you know, bring
(23:43):
up when we speak about the continent, we always speak
as one continent, you know, and as soon as you
start you know, thinking about implementing improvement or what you
want to do, it goes, it goes into regions you
start hearing Francophone and East Africa, you know, and then
when you get there, then it's it goes into different
(24:05):
states or cities, and then from there it goes into
villages and towns, and then it's clan. It just keeps
on going, you know, and and it makes it that
kind of mindset. It makes it so difficult to grow
all together at once. And that's why you see, you know,
right now, you see you know, certain countries leading and
(24:25):
so on. And you know, if you take America for example,
you know, yes it's a big countries, you know, United States,
but it's similar from state to state. You can, you know,
you can grow any business and kind of you know,
keep on repeating it. For example, if you own Starbucks
(24:45):
in I don't know, in New Jersey's probably the same
rules to buy a land and implement those rules. It's
not the same in the continent. And you know, that's
something we need to focus on. But the opportunity in
terms of you know, investing and doing the right way.
The satisfaction, well, for me anyway, the satisfaction is a
lot more than just you know, what you get back
(25:08):
in terms of you know, earning or a successful business.
We talked about the opportunities, the jobs it creates and
so on. And one thing about the continent is you
have to be creative in whatever you're doing to be
able to reach out as far as you can. You
can't be one dimensional and just focus on one thing.
You got to, you know, try to bring everybody along
(25:31):
with you.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Claire, you brought up something earlier. You said your husband
was up at three in the morning watching the NBA.
I'm gonna tell you something that was me last night.
It'll probably be met tonight. New York is playing tonight,
but it got me to thinking about meteorites and revenue
streams and so for the b AL, is there a nickname?
(25:57):
Is it a traditional model where it's it's media rights,
it's merchandising, it's tourism. How is it structured here? And
what's the plan for scalability for that?
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (26:08):
So Mainly four ways that leagues like ours can monetize,
and I think the more common one for African for
our league is sponsorship and marketing partnerships and that's where
you see some of the partnerships. We have your service
now visit rund African Zimbak and run there. So yes,
sponsorship and marketing rights and using our platform that we
(26:30):
give to market products and services. We have overall NBAS
over one billion funds. Within Africa we have millions. We
have one point two you know impression billion impressions in
the last season. And when we look at our social
media platforms, we have a big reach. So that which
allows you know, partners like ours to really access the
(26:51):
funds that we have and that's how we monitorze one way.
The other one is merchandise and good news is that
we just opened and it commas bottom. It's called balstore
dot NBA dot com where you can buy merchandise from
anywhere using our e commas platform. Now we know that
the market, not just in Africa, but also especially the
(27:12):
African diaspora all over the world has been looking to
own something with BL whenever they interact with it. We
saw pictures last year of season four with a family
in Brazil walking around with BA l and we wondered
where they got the BL merchandise. You know, we've seen
pictures in his row where people crossing security and they're
wearing BAL and those anecdotes showed us that there's really
(27:35):
appetite for consuming BLB on the African market, but also
with especially the African diaspora all over the world, who
are really big. In fact, one of the statistics that
you know, a colleago man shared with me is, you know,
if you take out China and India, the African despera
is the third country in terms of population globally. So
interacting with that market as part of what we have
to offer as bl continues to be important for us.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
The third one is ticketing. You know, when you come
to watch gems.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Every year we see ticketing revenues go up because more
and more funds are coming to watch your games and
paying to watch your games, and that has been really
important as well. Now the media market obviously as well,
is a big part of sports leagues. It's a growing
aspect in Africa, whether it's PayTV, it's still very limited
in terms of the coverage free to air. Many of
(28:20):
the free to air broadcasters are national and therefore kind
of free access in the countries where they serve. But
we see that changing, and I think one when you
say what does the future look like, one of the
areas we see the future, you know changing, is very
much around what lo w All talked about, which is
integrating markets in Africa. I think the more integrated markets are,
(28:42):
the more integrated services are, The more integrated we can be,
the more you can actually use platforms to you know,
provide whether it's streaming or broadcasting to markets across the continent.
Now people like to say we need to integrate Africa more,
and we really do need to. We've talked about the
African Continent to Free Trade Area. It's a big aspirationion
to really break down all these barriers so we can
(29:03):
trade as one market. But a lot has to be
done for that to happen, and I think we all
touched on a couple of those. How do you rejust
a business in Randa and be able to give your
services across the fifty four countries. That's not happening yet today.
How do you get a license to broadcasts in one
country and broadcast in many countries so you can actually
access a much bigger market on the continent.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
Those kinds of things.
Speaker 6 (29:23):
Need to be solved so that we can actually provide
services across the continent. The good news, I think, especially
for media rites, is what we see in some of
what they tell us are doing. If you give an
example of Empty and three hundred million subscribers across the continent,
I know that they're thinking about using that platform that
already is connected by subscription all over the continent to
(29:43):
provide content, such as content that we would be interested in.
So I think that's going to change, and I think
we're going to see more access to media, more media integration,
and media contributing a lot more than you're seeing today.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
And for me, the future is bright.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Claire.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Just to piggyback on that, you talked about the challenges
as far as only having five arenas in Content and Africa,
and obviously that makes it difficult to expand. But when
you're looking at expanding to either having different teams or
just focus in a different area, what are some of
the top areas on the continent that you guys have
on your board as far as you want to, you know,
(30:24):
have more expansion.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
In Well, we would like to be in all the
countries in Africa if we could, but today we're playing
four countries, but we have twelve teams that play, so
ideally in those twelve, you know, those twelve teams should
be representing countries that we have that there's interest in
playing in playing in but beyond the twelve, even before
(30:45):
we get the qualifiers for the twelve, we have the
broad to b a L, a lot more countries actually participate.
So actually countries that are participating in the wider community
that BL brings together is more than you know, four
countries at us.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
It's more than twelve teams at play.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
It's a lot more, you know, if you come from
the qualification road to b L until the final competitions.
And so our goal is to work with as many
countries as possible that wish to be part of this story,
and they're there every day we get as I said,
you know, I know Nigeria is building an arena. Benin
is building an arena. You know, we went Morocco for
the first time. After Egypt. You know, we are going
(31:20):
South Africa, the many countries. Kenya for example, we have
an office in Kenya, and then Arab City Thunders came,
you know, for the first time representing Kenya in the
bal And so can Uganda had a team City Oilers
that has been coming for the last seasons. So there's
potential in a lot more countries. I think the question
is how do we work with investors, how do we
work with the governments to put in place that environment
(31:42):
of infrastructure that could allow this to happen. The good
news is that every year, as we grow and we
see the impact of BAL, we get more interests, including
from development financial institutions like Africsen Bank FDB. We've seen
investors come to us and say what does it take
to bild an area?
Speaker 5 (32:00):
Who do build an arena for? And I think that's
going to change. I really think that over.
Speaker 6 (32:05):
The next five years you're going to see a lot
more standardized arenas than you've seen today, and that's going
to allow us to plan as many countries as we could.
Our goal is to have many countries come to be
part of the BAL experience.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Louell.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
A lot of times we see players retire and they
struggle to find their purpose after they've left playing the game.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
You haven't quite had that issue.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Rachad talked about your investment portfolio in a sense and
how you've been doing with that and obviously coming back
here and taking over the Sudan program.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
I wonder how influential it is amongst.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Your peers, right the guys that you used to play
with the colleagues because not only were they put players,
but they could potentially be investors going forward. How influential
have you been in inspiring them? And are they curious
about what's happening here in bal I know Royality, he
is coaching with you. I've seen you come here with
jo Keem a few times. How's that been now? A
(33:05):
great question? I think, first of all, I hope you
know that I am inspiring them. I've been inspired by
you know, people before me and so on. I think
for me, the continent is in a different place than
it was in the past. Part of it could be
just how connected the world is now with you know,
(33:29):
the Internet and so on and social media, and I
think people are getting positive stories and putting positive stories
out there. I think, you know, in the past, there's
been like I said before, there's this, you know, the
image and understanding of the continent hasn't been well represented
as it is now. For me, it was a lot
easier to continue.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
You know, a lot of people see after I retired
taking on the national team, but throughout my whole career
I was really focused on you know, basketball camps and
you know, growing the game and the continent, going back,
coming back and spending time and so on. So I
knew even before I retired that I was going to
(34:12):
be involved a lot more. To be honest, I wasn't.
I wasn't planning to be the president of basketball Federation
in South Sudan.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
It's just the timing of it.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Just to give you a quick story. The way I
looked at it was if I became the president of
South Sudan Basketball Federation, I was just going to focus
on the basketball team. But that's not the case. You know,
as a president of basketball Federation in South Sudan, I
have to focus on every state in South Sudan. We're
(34:44):
the youngest nation in the world. We don't have a
single basketball indoor court as of today. You know, all
the success that we've had in three years, we've never
practiced at home.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
We we were lucky, Well, we're fortunate and thanks to Rwanda,
we spend most of our time here preparing before we
go anywhere to play because of the facilities that they have. So,
like class said earlier, only five countries that have that
kind of facility. You know, it discourages a lot of
people from coming back and those are the things that
(35:20):
we have to change. I think, like you said, Royale
IV and so on. And as you see now in
the BAO, a lot more guy, a lot more players
are coming back and want to be in a continent.
And besides the basketball game and earlier some people talk
about how good the court is and so on. So
those are positive images that we're putting out and talking about.
(35:43):
But most important is when they come to the continent,
it completely changed them. It changes their mindset, it changes,
you know, what it is. And that's what I mean
earlier by we're doing more than just the game, you know,
and a lot more people want to be a part
of it. And you know, as you ask, I have
so many players, ex teammates and so on that want
(36:05):
to be a part of b A L.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
You know.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
And you got guys like you know, Derek Rose going
back to going you know, coming to the content and
going to Senegal, putting the camp together, going to see
the academy. All that plays a role into everybody coming back.
So we're playing a big part besides just basketball, of
promoting the continent in the right way. And you know,
(36:28):
I'm happy to be a part of it, and I
know that the growth is going to keep on going,
you know, to start from where we started and where
we are today. He speaks for itself, and Claid just
mentioned their own division and where it's going. And no
matter what we do, you know, this is going to
keep on growing. It's just how it It's just how
it is with what we're trying to put around and
(36:51):
what we're trying to implement. Every year that we come back,
we see more improvement. The game is getting better. People
understand the game better, there's more things to do, people
are taking advantage of being here and learning and so on.
So it's just going to keep on getting better. And
you know, we don't have to do much in convincing people.
(37:11):
I think people will see.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
I must say, lou All that after the Olympics, many
many times I meet people that say, oh, you know
you're up for NBA b al, congratulations for the great
work you did for Sufudan, and I just politely say
thank you.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
I appreciate, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Claire. What role is technology playing in the Bao as
far as engaging young people, whether there's a social media
strategy where there's ai you know, a lot of sports
now they're talking about virtual reality, so people can actually
get an in person experience even if they're not physically there. So,
from just a holistic standpoint, what're role is tech playing in.
Speaker 5 (37:52):
The league very important.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
We always say less than one percent of our fans
we'll ever go to watch a live game, and this
is not just NB as well. Ninety nine percent of
them will watch us through a platform, and that platform
is very much enabled by technology, whether it's streaming, it's
an app, whether it's you know, enhancing your experience in
you know, broadcaster, whether it's TV or your laptop, your iPad,
(38:19):
wherever you watch your phone, it's very much enabled by technology.
And so because of that, we invest very much in
enhancing the experience.
Speaker 5 (38:26):
Using technology of our games.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
But also this is also why as we think about
the wider you know, touch points beyond you know, viewing
games or watching games, we also know that solutions and
experiences of different types can actually make the experience much better.
And this is why we invested in the triple double
Accelerator that you had about earlier, because we knew that
if you're going to enhance the experience of our fun
(38:51):
you know, interacting with our games technology and continuously making
that better, enhancing how you buy a ticket, how you
get notifications of games.
Speaker 5 (39:01):
How you you know, you know, how.
Speaker 6 (39:03):
You scout, you know talent across the continent, you know merchandise.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
I think we see examples of marchanders.
Speaker 6 (39:08):
There are very many aspects that can allows, you know,
technology innovation to make it easier for fans to experience
the game of basketball or sports in general. And this
is why again technology remains something that is a focused area.
We always talk about sports, tech, basketball and technology. We
brought in the triput double, and I think that's always
going to be important because again, one way to enhance
(39:30):
the experience of our fund is using technology, including new
tools such as atficial Intelligence. We know a number of
teams are using adficial intelligence to really get data, analyze data,
and predict some of the performances of their teams and
talent on court. So all these is extremely important and
technology remains a very close interactor with sports and basketball
(39:51):
in particular.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
It'spent five years.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
I wonder how you see the next five years for
the BA l and the partnership with the NBA.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
I remember watching a young Luca Dancers playing against OKC
because they went there for preseason. Is there a vision
to have that kind of cross broader situation where you
got teams going to play in the States or maybe
playing in the Euroleagues or in China so that more
odds can see the talent and see the growth of
this league, or teams come to Africa, teams coming to
(40:23):
Africa maybe even better.
Speaker 5 (40:25):
We don't rule that out.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
I mean, I think you had NBAS exploring a league
in Europe. Of course it's NBA. Now we have a
legal radio operating five years in Africa, and yes, we
look forward to a future when we can have these
regional competitions. It's not happening yet, but we don't rule
out that in the future, and we hope that we
can actually give that experience across the different parts.
Speaker 5 (40:46):
Of the world.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
So we got to talk about that Olympic situation. So
one of almost one of the greatest upsets in the
history of sports, not just basketball. You got, in my opinion,
that's arguably the greatest team ever put together. When you
have Lebron, you got Steph Curry, you got Kevin Durant,
and man, you guys took him to the wire. How
(41:11):
was that moment for you? How was that moment for
your country? How was that moment for for you know,
the whole entire region, the whole entire continent.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Now it was it was amazing, you know, honestly to
to play against you know, all these guys. First of all,
it's a dream for our players to play against, you know,
their heroes, their superstars and so on. And you know,
having Lebron, Steph and Durant, like you said, it made
(41:42):
that team arguably one of the best teams you know,
ever put together. I think for us, and you know,
when I look back at it, it became more than
a game. You know, it started with developing the team
and putting the team together to compete, you know, and
then we realize that if you look at the Olympics,
(42:07):
only one African team makes it as of now, and
you know, I said that needs to change. I think
it will change eventually. As you know, the teams are
getting better. If you look at the World Cup, it's
five teams that make it out of fifty four country
so it's whoever goes is representing the whole continent, not
(42:28):
just the country. And for us, it's such a young
program that we put together and all these guys can play,
but they just never had the opportunity. And the amazing
thing is, before I talk about the game, if we
go back three years before that game, we took a
team to Kenya when we first you know, put the
(42:50):
federation together. We took a team to Kenya and not
a single person in that team had you know, a
job or playing professionally. That's three years removed from you know,
playing against the US and almost winning. But if you
if you look back, and I don't want to, you know,
consistently bring that back, but if you look back at
(43:12):
what took place that made that game so significant, it
was almost I look at it as like the crossover
from what we've been hearing about the continent and what
people have been thinking, and it really came at a
time where how how do we use this game to
change people's mindset? And I don't want to go into it,
(43:35):
but you know, certain individuals were speaking, you know, about
the South Sudan team, but speaking about Africa in such
a you know, a negative way. But it showed, you know,
it showed the lack of connection. But also you know,
just knowing what the continent or how far the continent
(43:55):
has come if you go back to some of the
things they were saying, I never I didn't respond, but
I took it as an opportunity. I didn't know that
we would come close to winning that game, or you know,
I'm gonna do knows we won that game because there
was a foul at the end, but you know, we're.
Speaker 3 (44:13):
Not going to get into that.
Speaker 4 (44:16):
But you know, the way everything happened, I think we
used it as an opportunity to kind of let everybody
know that one you know, Africa is not what you've
been you know, told, or what you've been seeing. This
is like the turnaround for you to use your social media,
use your network, learn more about the continent, because some
(44:37):
of these guys were speaking about, you know, not having
shoes and so on, which is so stupid, but you know,
and and also you know, to come that close to
winning that game. I remember in the locker room we
spoke about the Dream Team with Michael Jordan when they
played Angola, and you know those tapes of that game,
(45:02):
if you look back of you know, obviously the Dream
Team was a dream the Dream Team, they were destroying everyone.
But if you go back and really listen to the
US against Angola, it was just about, you know, an
African team who barely practiced. They those things are not
good for us in the continent, and those are the
(45:23):
things that we're trying to change. As much as you know,
a lot of people don't speak about it or play
it off. I think Africans are just tired of that image.
And I think when we played the US and we
almost want people realize that times have changed. And also
just for the basketball world, they realize that it's not
(45:45):
just about you know, Luar dang or Hakeem or Manute
or embiid Uh. You know, there's a lot of talent
in the continent and they're catching up because it's been about
Europe catching up, but Africa's catching up. So I'm just
glad that we had the opportunity to use that game
to promote the whole content.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
And you know, we've arrived. You have arrived.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
Indeed, my final question is you clear and obviously we
name some of the partners that you have, but what
does the BAO look for in terms of partner Obviously
it's an innovation, there's plenty of people here that want
to be involved.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
What are you looking for in partnerships?
Speaker 6 (46:25):
Well, first of all, we're looking for partners that you know,
share the values that we have, which is to really
elevate Africa, you know through sports entertainment, but also who
look at elevating the youth of Africa and giving the
youth of African opportunity to excel, which is what we
do through B a L. And so we look for
partners that not only have shared values with us, but
(46:47):
also really want to reach the funds that we bring
to them because we give them a platform for them
to read their funds. And so once we share those values,
the rest is technical. It's discussing very technical elements of that. Yeah,
So that's what we look for in partners. And if
there's anybody here that wants to be part of this
beautiful family that is b AL, please we're here to
discuss with you. I think there's a lot of opportunities
(47:08):
to do that in all categories. And again when I
say all categories, you know it's not just about you know,
you know, sports or talent. I think the beauty about
B a L is that we bring all sectors together.
If you can think about any industry. We're in a hotel,
you know, we're consuming you know digital services. You flew here,
(47:29):
it's aviation, you're going to eat. Agriculture is affected every sector.
Every industry you can think about somehow contributes or sports catalyzes.
Speaker 5 (47:37):
When I was in Iverory.
Speaker 6 (47:38):
Cost last week, somebody asked me, you know about mining,
because I tried to show how every industry benefits from mining,
I mean from sports, and they kind of try to
challenge me about mining and I told them, no, you know,
the trophy and the rings and the medals. Mining also
has a role to play in sports as well. But
(48:00):
let me just finish by saying, I think that what
we really want to see is more people coming to
watch bl games when they happen, because that's when you
show the best of Africa.
Speaker 5 (48:08):
You see beautiful countries.
Speaker 6 (48:09):
You see that they have shoes, You see that they
have clean roads, you see that they have electricity, You
see that it's actually a very beautiful place in many ways,
maybe even more beautiful than where you're coming from with
all those biases and so sports, I think is one
way to elevate the best of Africa.
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Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, let's start with you. You know, your career, coming from
the highest levels of basketball, right like playing in the NBA,
being a star in the NBA. What made you, you know,
want to do a three sixty move and come back
home and you know take over South Sadan basketball, right
as opposed to just you know, being a GM at
(00:58):
an NBA team or you know, being a coach in college.
Like you know that a lot of people probably would
have took that path.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, great question.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
You know, for me, coming back was important because obviously
being from the continent and coming out of you know,
South Sudan and you know, going to Egypt UK the
path that you know, I talked about a lot, but
it's important because I remember, just to go back. My
(01:31):
first time back in South Sudan was twenty ten, right
before the independence. I remember, I'm gonna do had a
vision of you know, us doing basketball camps in five
or six different countries every summer. In these camps we
were doing outside outdoor courts. Whoever we wanted to tag along,
(01:57):
we would come with us. And it just kept growing
and then kept growing. And I just remember, and I
said it the other day, I came from, you know,
a background that's so similar to all these kids that
we were trying to provide an opportunity for. And I
just believe that the talent is there. You know, it's
(02:20):
just about the organization and an infrastructure, the same things
that we talk about, you know, And I've just got
to have you know, I've learned so much from basketball,
whether it's my high school coach, whether it's playing for
Coach k whether it's playing in the NBA for scotscow Tipodeal.
(02:42):
And as a player, I always try to read the
game so I knew, you know, throughout my camps and
everything that I was doing all over the years, the
talent that we had and the opportunity that we had,
and it was always been my dream, you know, to
put South Sudan in a map, but also or to
promote basketball and just to show people the potential in
(03:04):
the continent.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
And the timing was just right.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
When I retired, U b a l obviously was you know,
on its way, and I just knew that there was
gonna be a lot of focus within the continent with
the game of basketball.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I was.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I was part of the NBA game in South Africa.
I just seen you know, the growth of it to
where we are here now today, and I wanted to
be a part of it, but also to have my
input and you know what I can do in South Sudan.
Obviously everybody knows the story, but when when I took
(03:39):
over that program, you know, I knew that it's a
lot to be done. But the one thing that I
knew was that if we were able to have a
great national team and compete, it will obviously bring excitement
and joy to the whole continent, but it will also
raise a lot of questions that needed to be answer
(04:01):
and we're still working on those and how do we
get there?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
So I knew right away as soon as I retired,
I needed to be back here and kind of put
in my blueprint.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
And we thank you for that, my brother Claire. Let's
talk about where we're at today, five years of the
ba L. Congratulations, not one person clap. I'm not sure why.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
We talk about the vision for it.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Right when you created the idea, we're coming up with
the idea, there was a vision of blueprint for it.
I want to ask you look five years post that.
Has it met your expectations? Has it development going according
to plan? What have been some of the struggles into
this five year anniversary of b AL.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Thank you, and first of.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
All, Rashad and Troy, welcome to ba L and welcome
to the now conference. And thanks to all of you
that are still here. We talked about resilience. You're such
a resilient audience. You've been here the whole day. But
back to your question. So, when NBA decided to invest
in Africa, I think there were a.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
Number of things that were obvious.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
One of them that has been said, you know throughout
the day is that there's talent in Africa. In fact,
today in NBA, about ten percent of our players have
either directly or indirectly some links to the African continent.
Either one of their parents or both their parents are
from the African continent. Ten percent and that's about fifty players.
(05:30):
So already there's talent that's making its way to the NBA.
Now imagine if we were to be intentional about identifying
harnessing that talent, I think those numbers would be even
more because Africa has has been said, the whole day
has talent. But also we know that not everybody can
go and play in the NBA. The NBA is about
five hundred players and we have one point five billion
(05:53):
Africans with a lot of talent, and not everybody will
have a chance to go there. So how do we
create opportunities for African players or talent to stay on
the continent and play professionally in a league such as
the bal that we have here. And that was one
of the thought processes that went there. But also for
those of you who have you know, great fans of NBA,
(06:14):
you know that you have to wake up early in
the mornings. You know, My husband is one of those
who always works up to a m. Three and four
m am to switch on the lights and watch a
basketball game. But when you're here, you watch a basketball
game in no more hours, right at two pm at
seven pm, and you can go to bed in normal hours.
And so that means we can actually give access to
(06:36):
the game of basketball to a lot more people that
don't have to work up at two a m Or
three and who love the game of basketball. So bringing
that opportunity as well to our funds to give them
something that they can interact and access was also very
very important. The other one who's also being intentional around
building the talent. I mean, we've talked about NBA Academy.
We've had about some of the players come and Maluach
(06:57):
that was talked about in the previous panel, and a
couple of others whol Reach chump Chi who's playing for
Toronto Raptors. All of them went through NBA Academy and
we expect to see even more coming out of that.
We have other talent programs that we work very closely with,
like Seed Academy in that Amadu founded in Senegal that
(07:18):
has had a kind of good relationship with the NBA
Academy in terms of supporting to nature the talent in
a much bigger skill. So all of that is really
about how do you identify that talent. But the last
thing is something that my Deputy Commissioner likes to talk about,
Mark Tatum. The first conversations they had when they came
to Africa at the time more than five years ago,
with heads of state, with policymakers, and it became very
(07:41):
clear to them and the NBA that if you're going
to positively impact AFRICAAN, you do to think about the
youth of Africa and what do the youth of Africa need.
We've had statistics like seventy percent of the African population,
which is one point five billion people, are young people
below the age of thirty. So if you're going to
really impact Africa, you have to think about the youth
(08:03):
and you have to think about how to support the
creation of jobs for this youth. So outside the court,
you know, apart from the talent those that will play basketball,
also creating economic opportunities that will support the youth to
get jobs and to support this ecosystem of basketball by
having the bal in Africa in the countries that we play.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
Today, we're playing four countries.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
Our vision is to play many, many more countries, and
you can only imagine and we playing many more countries,
the impact will be even more.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
But today to fifty.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
Million dollars, thirty seven thousand jobs in just four seasons,
imagine how much more transformation we will do if we
play in forty countries instead of form in the next
ten twenty years.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
You can just imagine.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Well, that's actually my next question in both of you
guys can answer this as far as how do you
measure success? So looking at five years in the future
or ten years in the future, right, what does success
look like for this league and just basketball and hole
when it comes to the continent Africa? Is it thirty
teams across the continent? Is the grassroots program like AAU
programs that we see in America? Like, how do you
(09:15):
envision the content in Africa as far as a successful
movement when it comes to not only NBA basketball, but
basketball as a whole.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Even both of you, yeah, I think if you look
back to what I was saying maybe around twenty ten
or even before me, I think if you look at
how basketball has been developing, in the continent to begin with.
You know, when I first came into the league, everybody
(09:45):
was used to NBA. I mean African players being you know,
big guys who just rebound and you know, blockshot. Obviously
Hakeem Olajuan had the skill, but when he first came over,
he was given the opportunity because of his height and
so on. So guys, we're just looking for tall African
players who you know, are athletic. As the game went on,
(10:09):
I remember when I first came in the league, it
bothered me that I was only, you know, the only
I shouldn't say the only, but one of the few
African players who are a primitive player and so on.
And now if you look at the league now with
you know, Siakam and Embiid and all these guys that
are so skilled, it just shows you where the game
(10:30):
is going and where the development is going. So I think,
as much as you know, we are still improving, you
got to give credit to where we are today. And
as class said, how many players in the NBA or
just around the world that are playing the game that
have you know, roots back to the continent or you know,
came directly from the continent. And now we're seeing guys
(10:52):
like Command, my Ludge and so on coming straight out
of you know, the academies in Africa, but also go back.
I think we also need to focus on the grassroots
side of things, on programs that have proven themselves, programs
that you know, continuously keep on, you know, bringing on players,
(11:15):
but also you know, developing not just the players, but
the coaches, the referee and so on. And I always
talk about I'm gonna does is a great example with
CED Academy. As long as you know, I've been back
in the continent, Seed Academy has existed, and Seed Academy
has given so much to the game of basketball from
(11:37):
the continent. How many players came out of there, how
many players are playing in Europe and so on. Those
type of program we need to protect and enhance and
also make some type of connection with you know, the
US and Europe, because no matter what, we have to
admit that, you know, the game is more advanced in
those places, and there's a lot of coaches that have
(11:59):
so much information that they can you know, share and develop.
And as far as I think, as far as B. A. L.
I think we all see the vision, you know, there's
great leadership within the B A L. I happen to
be a part of it, and I see it every day,
and I see that, you know the direction and what
(12:19):
we're trying to accomplish as a league, And as Claire said,
it's it's really amazing when you look at the BA
L of how many opportunities it's creating the panel earlier
people were asking questions on how to get involved and
the way I see. I mean, obviously the NBA, it's
a global and it's been going on for years, but
(12:40):
when we look at BA L in the continent, and
it's not just basketball, there's so much that comes with it.
Even us sitting up here because of B A L.
There's so much we're talking about that will motivate others.
And we're talking positively consistently about the continent and we're
creating jobs. But we're also connecting it with you know,
with the culture. We're connecting it with the youth and
(13:02):
so on. How can we pull more people in, not
just the fans, but how can we create more jobs
and so on? So I think the direction is clear.
You know, everybody, everybody has an opinion, but I really
got to trust on the leadership to where it was
and where it is now and where it's gone.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Claire, I want to talk about that as well. Right,
infrastructure is important. It's funny I was watching the game
on Sunday and I'm looking at an arena.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I'm like, this is a stale art arena.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
There's intentionality, the fans are engaged, but this is bigger
than basketball, right, and not only are people visiting Rwanda,
the people are investing in Rwanda. I know you've been
a part of that process long before the BA l
but talk about the intentionality to combine those two things
to say, yes, this is basketball, but no, this is
a place where you can come and invest and potentially
see growth here.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
Maybe before I come to that, your question about what
does success look like? And I think we've talked about jobs,
We talked about economic impact. We think, you know, BA
will contribute five point four billion dollars in ten years.
We think jobs will come to six fifty thousand.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
It is.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
But my real measure of success that I think about
is I remember a few weeks ago, I went to
hike in Kenya in a place called Gong Hills, and
while there, I picked a conversation with a stranger and
soon or later I told this person that I worked.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
For the NBA.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
And then she called her son quickly and said, this
lady works for the NBA. And then the son says, oh,
my god, you work with the NBA National Basketball Association.
I said yes, and then he said, have you met
Lebron James? Can you connect me to Lebron James. While
my answer was not to both questions. My measure of
(14:51):
success is hiking somewhere in China ten years from now,
fifteen years from now. And I told somebody about my
job in NBA, and they say, oh, have you met
Node Happy Mana? Have you met Washira from Nairobi? Have
you met Haruna from Dakara? And they say, And I
(15:14):
hope then I can say yes to both.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Answers and earners. What's up? Look?
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Speaker 6 (16:56):
Yes, I can connect you to Haruna too, because in
China they're watching BAL and they're following every season of BL.
So that is my measure of success many years from now.
But maybe back to your question around intentionality, I think
one of the reasons that the BAL partnered with Rwanda
at the very beginning was because we found that we
(17:18):
had a meeting of minds in how we were intentional
about bringing something new to African fans. We had a
vision as BA L to start a league, but to
do that, we needed our countries to invest, even investors
to invest in infrastructure in arenas, but also everything around basketball,
the teams, the federation it is in. But we also
(17:40):
knew that by coming to the market with NBA BA
L was a big incentive for countries that had similar
minds to invest in it because they trusted NBA with
the truck record that NBA had done and they would
trust what NBO was going to do with the BL
as well. And so you know a few years down
the road when you look at Randa for example, I mean, yes,
I saw from the beginning when BL came, when thinking
(18:00):
about what are we going to do with bl and
if you look at it today, not only has Randa
hosted five seasons, the economic impact has been great.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
I think we've talked about that.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
But one thing that I see a big improvement is
that we hardly saw any competition from the federation too,
is very low. But when you look at the teams
in the federation, all of them investing one of the
team's Tigers is you know, getting investment from the pension
fund and I saw Louise from the pension fund. Here
they're investing in one of the teams Tigers. I know
Berd is investing in their patriots, you know, reg among
(18:32):
other teams are also getting in investments from the local
companies in Wonder, whether it's development banks or pension funds,
and all of that is helping the level of competition
at the local.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Level go up.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
And when I meet the Tigers team, they're like, did
you see that? Now we've come to number two from
numbers you know, close to ten. And they're like, wait,
next year we're going to come to bal That is
the level of competition we're seeing not just in Wonder
but in federations across the countries where we play. And
whether it's Senegal or Morocco ag to render the level
of player I think has been incentivized, among others by
(19:04):
the bal being there. But we also know that in
addition to building the talent or building this ecosystem, infrastructure
is very key. And today in Africa, can you believe
that there are only five arenas in the whole of Africa,
in the fifty four countries of Africa that are ready
to receive an NBA or BA l GAM. Can you
imagine that just five out of the fifty four countries.
(19:26):
But the many others that could just do with some
work and you know I renovations, improvements, refurbishments that could
bring the number much higher. The good news is that
when we speak to heads of state, when we speak
to the ministers of sports, when we speak to investors,
more and more of them as seeing that investing in
infrastructure and investing in sports is actually a.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Good business for them.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
And I believe that in the next few years we're
going to see more arenas. I know, Beninis, you know,
building one, Legosi is building one, and goal as renovating one,
and we're going to see many of those coming up
across the continent and This is how we're going to
see the economic impact and the talent impact grow even
much more than we've seen today.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Sure as well talking about investing in real estate, Loo,
I know you you're having real estate investor. We have a
mutual friend, David Growth. So what is your thoughts as
far as investment on the continent and what are you
currently involved in?
Speaker 3 (20:22):
What's your thoughts on real estate? Yeah, this turned real quick.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
You know, I think right now it's the right time
to really invest in the continent. I know that as
people who invested in a past, but there's a lot
of great opportunities. The most important thing that I've learned
is understanding in in uh, in my situation that the
(20:50):
rules are completely different.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
At the end of the day, there's an you know,
there's an agenda and a perspective that's made on the
continent that keeps a lot of people shy and keep
a lot of people away. But you know, once you
come into the continent and you understand the impact of
investment and the return of investment, your mind changes quickly.
(21:17):
And I think the most important thing uh. And we
talked about it earlier. Within within each country in Africa,
the rules are different, and the most important thing are
you know, the people that you work with and the
individuals that you surround yourself with to really guide you.
I always give an example of you know, there's an
(21:37):
investment that I made in New York, and you know,
everyone talks about corruption and the continent and so on,
and I remember in my investment in New York, all
I had to do was to finish the project. There
was an electricity line that needed to you know, instead
of being up and needed to go on the ground.
And there's an electricity company that's supposed to take care
(21:59):
of it. And six months, eight months, I can't get
a hold of them or their schedule is is busy.
It took one visit to the mayor's office, a couple
of pictures on social media and so on.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
And the next day they were there.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
But that's not called corruption because you know, I'm going
through a company. In the continent, you do the same
thing where you go through one individual that you gotta
take care of, but you know, so it's similar rules
is just understanding. But in the continent there's you know,
amazing opportunities. And I think earlier with the earlier podcast,
(22:38):
what we really I mean not podcasts, but when we
were up here in the panel, I spoke about really
the continent focusing on having similar rules that makes it
easier to keep you know, growing the business and involving
other people, you know, ministries coming together and implementing rules
(22:59):
that really benefits you know, both sides or different countries.
Because right now, if I wanted to invest in Rwanda,
it's safer to invest in Rwanda. I could understand the rules.
I have people that can take me through it. But
I'll keep on coming back to Rwanda because of that.
And there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're trying
(23:20):
to bring the continent together, it makes a lot of
sense if you know the implementation are the same within
South Todain or Rwanda for example. So when I go
back over there, I know the rules and how to
follow it, and I think that's kind of keeping the continent,
you know, help back in terms of growth. And another
thing too that I always like to, you know, bring
(23:43):
up when we speak about the continent, we always speak
as one continent, you know, and as soon as you
start you know, thinking about implementing improvement or what you
want to do, it goes, it goes into regions you
start hearing Francophone and East Africa, you know, and then
when you get there, then it's it goes into different
(24:05):
states or cities, and then from there it goes into
villages and towns, and then it's clan. It just keeps
on going, you know, and and it makes it that
kind of mindset. It makes it so difficult to grow
all together at once. And that's why you see, you know,
right now, you see you know, certain countries leading and
(24:25):
so on. And you know, if you take America for example,
you know, yes it's a big countries, you know, United States,
but it's similar from state to state. You can, you know,
you can grow any business and kind of you know,
keep on repeating it. For example, if you own Starbucks
(24:45):
in I don't know, in New Jersey's probably the same
rules to buy a land and implement those rules. It's
not the same in the continent. And you know, that's
something we need to focus on. But the opportunity in
terms of you know, investing and doing the right way.
The satisfaction, well, for me anyway, the satisfaction is a
lot more than just you know, what you get back
(25:08):
in terms of you know, earning or a successful business.
We talked about the opportunities, the jobs it creates and
so on. And one thing about the continent is you
have to be creative in whatever you're doing to be
able to reach out as far as you can. You
can't be one dimensional and just focus on one thing.
You got to, you know, try to bring everybody along
(25:31):
with you.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Claire, you brought up something earlier. You said your husband
was up at three in the morning watching the NBA.
I'm gonna tell you something that was me last night.
It'll probably be met tonight. New York is playing tonight,
but it got me to thinking about meteorites and revenue
streams and so for the b AL, is there a nickname?
(25:57):
Is it a traditional model where it's it's media rights,
it's merchandising, it's tourism. How is it structured here? And
what's the plan for scalability for that?
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (26:08):
So Mainly four ways that leagues like ours can monetize,
and I think the more common one for African for
our league is sponsorship and marketing partnerships and that's where
you see some of the partnerships. We have your service
now visit rund African Zimbak and run there. So yes,
sponsorship and marketing rights and using our platform that we
(26:30):
give to market products and services. We have overall NBAS
over one billion funds. Within Africa we have millions. We
have one point two you know impression billion impressions in
the last season. And when we look at our social
media platforms, we have a big reach. So that which
allows you know, partners like ours to really access the
(26:51):
funds that we have and that's how we monitorze one way.
The other one is merchandise and good news is that
we just opened and it commas bottom. It's called balstore
dot NBA dot com where you can buy merchandise from
anywhere using our e commas platform. Now we know that
the market, not just in Africa, but also especially the
(27:12):
African diaspora all over the world has been looking to
own something with BL whenever they interact with it. We
saw pictures last year of season four with a family
in Brazil walking around with BA l and we wondered
where they got the BL merchandise. You know, we've seen
pictures in his row where people crossing security and they're
wearing BAL and those anecdotes showed us that there's really
(27:35):
appetite for consuming BLB on the African market, but also
with especially the African diaspora all over the world, who
are really big. In fact, one of the statistics that
you know, a colleago man shared with me is, you know,
if you take out China and India, the African despera
is the third country in terms of population globally. So
interacting with that market as part of what we have
to offer as bl continues to be important for us.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
The third one is ticketing. You know, when you come
to watch gems.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Every year we see ticketing revenues go up because more
and more funds are coming to watch your games and
paying to watch your games, and that has been really
important as well. Now the media market obviously as well,
is a big part of sports leagues. It's a growing
aspect in Africa, whether it's PayTV, it's still very limited
in terms of the coverage free to air. Many of
(28:20):
the free to air broadcasters are national and therefore kind
of free access in the countries where they serve. But
we see that changing, and I think one when you
say what does the future look like, one of the
areas we see the future, you know changing, is very
much around what lo w All talked about, which is
integrating markets in Africa. I think the more integrated markets are,
(28:42):
the more integrated services are, The more integrated we can be,
the more you can actually use platforms to you know,
provide whether it's streaming or broadcasting to markets across the continent.
Now people like to say we need to integrate Africa more,
and we really do need to. We've talked about the
African Continent to Free Trade Area. It's a big aspirationion
to really break down all these barriers so we can
(29:03):
trade as one market. But a lot has to be
done for that to happen, and I think we all
touched on a couple of those. How do you rejust
a business in Randa and be able to give your
services across the fifty four countries. That's not happening yet today.
How do you get a license to broadcasts in one
country and broadcast in many countries so you can actually
access a much bigger market on the continent.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
Those kinds of things.
Speaker 6 (29:23):
Need to be solved so that we can actually provide
services across the continent. The good news, I think, especially
for media rites, is what we see in some of
what they tell us are doing. If you give an
example of Empty and three hundred million subscribers across the continent,
I know that they're thinking about using that platform that
already is connected by subscription all over the continent to
(29:43):
provide content, such as content that we would be interested in.
So I think that's going to change, and I think
we're going to see more access to media, more media integration,
and media contributing a lot more than you're seeing today.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
And for me, the future is bright.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Claire.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Just to piggyback on that, you talked about the challenges
as far as only having five arenas in Content and Africa,
and obviously that makes it difficult to expand. But when
you're looking at expanding to either having different teams or
just focus in a different area, what are some of
the top areas on the continent that you guys have
on your board as far as you want to, you know,
(30:24):
have more expansion.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
In Well, we would like to be in all the
countries in Africa if we could, but today we're playing
four countries, but we have twelve teams that play, so
ideally in those twelve, you know, those twelve teams should
be representing countries that we have that there's interest in
playing in playing in but beyond the twelve, even before
(30:45):
we get the qualifiers for the twelve, we have the
broad to b a L, a lot more countries actually participate.
So actually countries that are participating in the wider community
that BL brings together is more than you know, four
countries at us.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
It's more than twelve teams at play.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
It's a lot more, you know, if you come from
the qualification road to b L until the final competitions.
And so our goal is to work with as many
countries as possible that wish to be part of this story,
and they're there every day we get as I said,
you know, I know Nigeria is building an arena. Benin
is building an arena. You know, we went Morocco for
the first time. After Egypt. You know, we are going
(31:20):
South Africa, the many countries. Kenya for example, we have
an office in Kenya, and then Arab City Thunders came,
you know, for the first time representing Kenya in the
bal And so can Uganda had a team City Oilers
that has been coming for the last seasons. So there's
potential in a lot more countries. I think the question
is how do we work with investors, how do we
work with the governments to put in place that environment
(31:42):
of infrastructure that could allow this to happen. The good
news is that every year, as we grow and we
see the impact of BAL, we get more interests, including
from development financial institutions like Africsen Bank FDB. We've seen
investors come to us and say what does it take
to bild an area?
Speaker 5 (32:00):
Who do build an arena for? And I think that's
going to change. I really think that over.
Speaker 6 (32:05):
The next five years you're going to see a lot
more standardized arenas than you've seen today, and that's going
to allow us to plan as many countries as we could.
Our goal is to have many countries come to be
part of the BAL experience.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Louell.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
A lot of times we see players retire and they
struggle to find their purpose after they've left playing the game.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
You haven't quite had that issue.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Rachad talked about your investment portfolio in a sense and
how you've been doing with that and obviously coming back
here and taking over the Sudan program.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
I wonder how influential it is amongst.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Your peers, right the guys that you used to play
with the colleagues because not only were they put players,
but they could potentially be investors going forward. How influential
have you been in inspiring them? And are they curious
about what's happening here in bal I know Royality, he
is coaching with you. I've seen you come here with
jo Keem a few times. How's that been now? A
(33:05):
great question? I think, first of all, I hope you
know that I am inspiring them. I've been inspired by
you know, people before me and so on. I think
for me, the continent is in a different place than
it was in the past. Part of it could be
just how connected the world is now with you know,
(33:29):
the Internet and so on and social media, and I
think people are getting positive stories and putting positive stories
out there. I think, you know, in the past, there's
been like I said before, there's this, you know, the
image and understanding of the continent hasn't been well represented
as it is now. For me, it was a lot
easier to continue.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
You know, a lot of people see after I retired
taking on the national team, but throughout my whole career
I was really focused on you know, basketball camps and
you know, growing the game and the continent, going back,
coming back and spending time and so on. So I
knew even before I retired that I was going to
(34:12):
be involved a lot more. To be honest, I wasn't.
I wasn't planning to be the president of basketball Federation
in South Sudan.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
It's just the timing of it.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Just to give you a quick story. The way I
looked at it was if I became the president of
South Sudan Basketball Federation, I was just going to focus
on the basketball team. But that's not the case. You know,
as a president of basketball Federation in South Sudan, I
have to focus on every state in South Sudan. We're
(34:44):
the youngest nation in the world. We don't have a
single basketball indoor court as of today. You know, all
the success that we've had in three years, we've never
practiced at home.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
We we were lucky, Well, we're fortunate and thanks to Rwanda,
we spend most of our time here preparing before we
go anywhere to play because of the facilities that they have. So,
like class said earlier, only five countries that have that
kind of facility. You know, it discourages a lot of
people from coming back and those are the things that
(35:20):
we have to change. I think, like you said, Royale
IV and so on. And as you see now in
the BAO, a lot more guy, a lot more players
are coming back and want to be in a continent.
And besides the basketball game and earlier some people talk
about how good the court is and so on. So
those are positive images that we're putting out and talking about.
(35:43):
But most important is when they come to the continent,
it completely changed them. It changes their mindset, it changes,
you know, what it is. And that's what I mean
earlier by we're doing more than just the game, you know,
and a lot more people want to be a part
of it. And you know, as you ask, I have
so many players, ex teammates and so on that want
(36:05):
to be a part of b A L.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
You know.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
And you got guys like you know, Derek Rose going
back to going you know, coming to the content and
going to Senegal, putting the camp together, going to see
the academy. All that plays a role into everybody coming back.
So we're playing a big part besides just basketball, of
promoting the continent in the right way. And you know,
(36:28):
I'm happy to be a part of it, and I
know that the growth is going to keep on going,
you know, to start from where we started and where
we are today. He speaks for itself, and Claid just
mentioned their own division and where it's going. And no
matter what we do, you know, this is going to
keep on growing. It's just how it It's just how
it is with what we're trying to put around and
(36:51):
what we're trying to implement. Every year that we come back,
we see more improvement. The game is getting better. People
understand the game better, there's more things to do, people
are taking advantage of being here and learning and so on.
So it's just going to keep on getting better. And
you know, we don't have to do much in convincing people.
(37:11):
I think people will see.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
I must say, lou All that after the Olympics, many
many times I meet people that say, oh, you know
you're up for NBA b al, congratulations for the great
work you did for Sufudan, and I just politely say
thank you.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
I appreciate, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Claire. What role is technology playing in the Bao as
far as engaging young people, whether there's a social media
strategy where there's ai you know, a lot of sports
now they're talking about virtual reality, so people can actually
get an in person experience even if they're not physically there. So,
from just a holistic standpoint, what're role is tech playing in.
Speaker 5 (37:52):
The league very important.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
We always say less than one percent of our fans
we'll ever go to watch a live game, and this
is not just NB as well. Ninety nine percent of
them will watch us through a platform, and that platform
is very much enabled by technology, whether it's streaming, it's
an app, whether it's you know, enhancing your experience in
you know, broadcaster, whether it's TV or your laptop, your iPad,
(38:19):
wherever you watch your phone, it's very much enabled by technology.
And so because of that, we invest very much in
enhancing the experience.
Speaker 5 (38:26):
Using technology of our games.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
But also this is also why as we think about
the wider you know, touch points beyond you know, viewing
games or watching games, we also know that solutions and
experiences of different types can actually make the experience much better.
And this is why we invested in the triple double
Accelerator that you had about earlier, because we knew that
if you're going to enhance the experience of our fun
(38:51):
you know, interacting with our games technology and continuously making
that better, enhancing how you buy a ticket, how you
get notifications of games.
Speaker 5 (39:01):
How you you know, you know, how.
Speaker 6 (39:03):
You scout, you know talent across the continent, you know merchandise.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
I think we see examples of marchanders.
Speaker 6 (39:08):
There are very many aspects that can allows, you know,
technology innovation to make it easier for fans to experience
the game of basketball or sports in general. And this
is why again technology remains something that is a focused area.
We always talk about sports, tech, basketball and technology. We
brought in the triput double, and I think that's always
going to be important because again, one way to enhance
(39:30):
the experience of our fund is using technology, including new
tools such as atficial Intelligence. We know a number of
teams are using adficial intelligence to really get data, analyze data,
and predict some of the performances of their teams and
talent on court. So all these is extremely important and
technology remains a very close interactor with sports and basketball
(39:51):
in particular.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
It'spent five years.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
I wonder how you see the next five years for
the BA l and the partnership with the NBA.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
I remember watching a young Luca Dancers playing against OKC
because they went there for preseason. Is there a vision
to have that kind of cross broader situation where you
got teams going to play in the States or maybe
playing in the Euroleagues or in China so that more
odds can see the talent and see the growth of
this league, or teams come to Africa, teams coming to
(40:23):
Africa maybe even better.
Speaker 5 (40:25):
We don't rule that out.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
I mean, I think you had NBAS exploring a league
in Europe. Of course it's NBA. Now we have a
legal radio operating five years in Africa, and yes, we
look forward to a future when we can have these
regional competitions. It's not happening yet, but we don't rule
out that in the future, and we hope that we
can actually give that experience across the different parts.
Speaker 5 (40:46):
Of the world.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
So we got to talk about that Olympic situation. So
one of almost one of the greatest upsets in the
history of sports, not just basketball. You got, in my opinion,
that's arguably the greatest team ever put together. When you
have Lebron, you got Steph Curry, you got Kevin Durant,
and man, you guys took him to the wire. How
(41:11):
was that moment for you? How was that moment for
your country? How was that moment for for you know,
the whole entire region, the whole entire continent.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Now it was it was amazing, you know, honestly to
to play against you know, all these guys. First of all,
it's a dream for our players to play against, you know,
their heroes, their superstars and so on. And you know,
having Lebron, Steph and Durant, like you said, it made
(41:42):
that team arguably one of the best teams you know,
ever put together. I think for us, and you know,
when I look back at it, it became more than
a game. You know, it started with developing the team
and putting the team together to compete, you know, and
then we realize that if you look at the Olympics,
(42:07):
only one African team makes it as of now, and
you know, I said that needs to change. I think
it will change eventually. As you know, the teams are
getting better. If you look at the World Cup, it's
five teams that make it out of fifty four country
so it's whoever goes is representing the whole continent, not
(42:28):
just the country. And for us, it's such a young
program that we put together and all these guys can play,
but they just never had the opportunity. And the amazing
thing is, before I talk about the game, if we
go back three years before that game, we took a
team to Kenya when we first you know, put the
(42:50):
federation together. We took a team to Kenya and not
a single person in that team had you know, a
job or playing professionally. That's three years removed from you know,
playing against the US and almost winning. But if you
if you look back, and I don't want to, you know,
consistently bring that back, but if you look back at
(43:12):
what took place that made that game so significant, it
was almost I look at it as like the crossover
from what we've been hearing about the continent and what
people have been thinking, and it really came at a
time where how how do we use this game to
change people's mindset? And I don't want to go into it,
(43:35):
but you know, certain individuals were speaking, you know, about
the South Sudan team, but speaking about Africa in such
a you know, a negative way. But it showed, you know,
it showed the lack of connection. But also you know,
just knowing what the continent or how far the continent
(43:55):
has come if you go back to some of the
things they were saying, I never I didn't respond, but
I took it as an opportunity. I didn't know that
we would come close to winning that game, or you know,
I'm gonna do knows we won that game because there
was a foul at the end, but you know, we're.
Speaker 3 (44:13):
Not going to get into that.
Speaker 4 (44:16):
But you know, the way everything happened, I think we
used it as an opportunity to kind of let everybody
know that one you know, Africa is not what you've
been you know, told, or what you've been seeing. This
is like the turnaround for you to use your social media,
use your network, learn more about the continent, because some
(44:37):
of these guys were speaking about, you know, not having
shoes and so on, which is so stupid, but you know,
and and also you know, to come that close to
winning that game. I remember in the locker room we
spoke about the Dream Team with Michael Jordan when they
played Angola, and you know those tapes of that game,
(45:02):
if you look back of you know, obviously the Dream
Team was a dream the Dream Team, they were destroying everyone.
But if you go back and really listen to the
US against Angola, it was just about, you know, an
African team who barely practiced. They those things are not
good for us in the continent, and those are the
(45:23):
things that we're trying to change. As much as you know,
a lot of people don't speak about it or play
it off. I think Africans are just tired of that image.
And I think when we played the US and we
almost want people realize that times have changed. And also
just for the basketball world, they realize that it's not
(45:45):
just about you know, Luar dang or Hakeem or Manute
or embiid Uh. You know, there's a lot of talent
in the continent and they're catching up because it's been about
Europe catching up, but Africa's catching up. So I'm just
glad that we had the opportunity to use that game
to promote the whole content.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
And you know, we've arrived. You have arrived.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
Indeed, my final question is you clear and obviously we
name some of the partners that you have, but what
does the BAO look for in terms of partner Obviously
it's an innovation, there's plenty of people here that want
to be involved.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
What are you looking for in partnerships?
Speaker 6 (46:25):
Well, first of all, we're looking for partners that you know,
share the values that we have, which is to really
elevate Africa, you know through sports entertainment, but also who
look at elevating the youth of Africa and giving the
youth of African opportunity to excel, which is what we
do through B a L. And so we look for
partners that not only have shared values with us, but
(46:47):
also really want to reach the funds that we bring
to them because we give them a platform for them
to read their funds. And so once we share those values,
the rest is technical. It's discussing very technical elements of that. Yeah,
So that's what we look for in partners. And if
there's anybody here that wants to be part of this
beautiful family that is b AL, please we're here to
discuss with you. I think there's a lot of opportunities
(47:08):
to do that in all categories. And again when I
say all categories, you know it's not just about you know,
you know, sports or talent. I think the beauty about
B a L is that we bring all sectors together.
If you can think about any industry. We're in a hotel,
you know, we're consuming you know digital services. You flew here,
(47:29):
it's aviation, you're going to eat. Agriculture is affected every sector.
Every industry you can think about somehow contributes or sports catalyzes.
Speaker 5 (47:37):
When I was in Iverory.
Speaker 6 (47:38):
Cost last week, somebody asked me, you know about mining,
because I tried to show how every industry benefits from mining,
I mean from sports, and they kind of try to
challenge me about mining and I told them, no, you know,
the trophy and the rings and the medals. Mining also
has a role to play in sports as well. But
(48:00):
let me just finish by saying, I think that what
we really want to see is more people coming to
watch bl games when they happen, because that's when you
show the best of Africa.
Speaker 5 (48:08):
You see beautiful countries.
Speaker 6 (48:09):
You see that they have shoes, You see that they
have clean roads, you see that they have electricity, You
see that it's actually a very beautiful place in many ways,
maybe even more beautiful than where you're coming from with
all those biases and so sports, I think is one
way to elevate the best of Africa.
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