The SportsBiz Africa (SBA) Discussion board returns to Kigali for the third consecutive 12 months this week, bringing collectively African policymakers, sports activities leaders, buyers and trade stakeholders to construct on suggestions which have already reached the continental policy-making stage.
The 2026 programme begins on Wednesday, September 9, with a policymakers and stakeholders’ roundtable on the Kigali Conference Centre. The high-level assembly will deliver collectively African ministers and authorities representatives, private-sector executives, buyers, multilateral establishments and growth companions to debate sensible insurance policies for unlocking the continent’s rising sports activities financial system.
The discussions will construct on the outcomes of the 2025 roundtable, whose suggestions have been later offered for consideration on the Fifth African Union Specialised Technical Committee on Youth, Tradition and Sport (STC-YCS-5) in Bujumbura, Burundi, in December 2025.
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The suggestions referred to as for stronger sports activities insurance policies and governance, higher integration of sport into nationwide growth plans, elevated use of public-private partnerships and funding in sustainable, multipurpose sports activities infrastructure.
Additionally they urged African international locations to strengthen talent-identification techniques, create profession alternatives past competitors and empower athletes to contribute to the continent’s wider sports activities and enterprise ambitions.
Rwandan Sports activities Minister Nelly Mukazayire will function Visitor of Honour, whereas the keynote tackle can be delivered by Ibrahim Al Bakri, Chief Govt Officer of the Sports activities Funding Discussion board (SIF), a Riyadh-based platform centered on strategic dialogue, innovation and funding in sport.
Different outstanding audio system anticipated on the discussion board embody Sir Paul J. Foster, President and CEO of the International Esports Federation, and Félicité Rwemarika, a member of the Worldwide Olympic Committee.
Former Senegal worldwide and nationwide workforce coach Pape Thiaw may even characteristic in a session analyzing management and resilience in African sport. Thiaw led Senegal to an unbeaten qualification marketing campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
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The 2026 version may even characteristic a girls’s roundtable centered on selling extra inclusive participation within the sports activities enterprise sector, alongside skilled growth masterclasses and a profession truthful concentrating on younger folks from throughout Africa.
One other key characteristic would be the Dealroom, a matchmaking platform designed to attach buyers with chosen sports-related ventures. Its second version will characteristic ventures together with ElevateHer, Mango Rating™ and Silverback Sports activities, working throughout areas resembling girls’s sports activities, athlete valuation, and sports activities and leisure promotion.
Esports may even take centre stage, with 40 avid gamers from throughout Africa set to compete within the SportsBiz Africa Esports Cup. The competitors will characteristic continental championships in EA SPORTS FC 26 on PlayStation 5 and eFootball Cell.
Inaugurated in 2024, the SportsBiz Africa Discussion board is a joint initiative of the African Union Sports activities Council, Rwanda’s Ministry of Sports activities and SportsBiz Africa. It goals to strengthen the position of sport in Africa’s socio-economic growth by higher coverage and governance, elevated funding and stronger cross-sector collaboration, in keeping with the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
The discussion board’s coverage agenda has already gained continental recognition. Following the 2025 roundtable, the forty eighth Atypical Session of the African Union Govt Council urged member states to collaborate with the SportsBiz Africa platform to align sports activities growth with Agenda 2063, maximise alternatives created by the African Continental Free Commerce Space (AfCFTA) and mobilise home and worldwide assets for sustainable sports activities growth.
