How sports is driving the African cultural and economic landscape

When examining the African continent and the way its sports stars have shaped the contemporary cultural landscape, one could argue that it is on the sport fields, tracks, courts and pools around the globe that Africans have made the greatest contributions on the world stage.

The recently concluded Olympic Games in Tokyo saw 37 medals won by Africans. The top football leagues in Europe have numerous African players representing household brands such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. In America, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL) also have a healthy number of Africans competing. The question then is, how can the success of these athletes be leveraged to expand the interests of businesses back home, and how can their exploits boost the African cultural economy?

 

Peres Jepchirchir, Kenya

“I want people to say that an African basketball player is the best player in the whole world. ”

JOEL EMIID

Africa’s middle class is growing at an exponential rate, faster than any other region. As many as 313 million people, 34% of Africa’s population, spend USD 2.20 a day, a 100% rise in less than 20 years, according to the African Development Bank. Even taking into account those who are significantly impacted by the economic downturn, the bank puts the stable middle class at 123 million, 13% of the population. By 2060, says the bank, the number of middle-class Africans will grow to 1.1 billion (42% of the predicted population).

With an expendable income, African sports fans will naturally be inclined to purchase replica shirts, pay for terrestrial broadcasting and streaming services, attend live matches as well as invest in their children’s sporting ambitions. Furthermore, with an estimated 690 million smartphones predicted to exist in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2050, there will be many eyeballs to watch future games at home and fill today’s unbuilt or underused stadiums.

This is best encapsulated by the growth in popularity of the NBA which now has a presence on the African continent after the 2021 seasonal launch of the Basketball African League (BAL), accelerating the gains already made by the Basketball With our Borders (BWB) program established in 2001, as well as the establishment of the NBA Africa Academy in Senegal in 2017.

This development comes on the wave of growing interest in the sport of basketball, but also the culture that surrounds it. This groundswell of positivity recently prompted Bismack Biyombo – Charlotte Hornets and Congolese player – to remark: “Now the young African players won’t necessarily need to go play in China or Europe to show themselves, the NBA scouts are going to come to Africa. They see there is talent and they are going to take care of these talents. They’ll eat better, they’ll train better and in a close future there will be more African stars (in the NBA).”

Joel Embiid, Cameroon

Concurring with this sentiment is Joel Embiid, the Cameroonian representing the Philadelphia 76ers, who stated his clear and concise ambition for the African continent: “I want people to say that an African basketball player is the best player in the whole world.”

The BAL is the NBA’s first professional league owned and operated outside the United States and is an acknowledgement that Africa’s sports market and local talent can drive needed growth for the association. The Premier League in the United Kingdom, England’s top flight football domestic competition, has long understood the need to appeal to the African market.

Earlier this year the Chinese TV broadcaster StarTimes announced it acquired the rights to the English FA Cup in sub-Saharan Africa, and in 2018 Rwandan President Kagame announced a £30m deal with Arsenal in an effort to boost local tourism and strengthen the global brand of Rwanda. Arsenal’s players sport the words ‘Visit Rwanda’ on their left sleeve on game day.

It’s not just traditional sports that are set to benefit from the shifting economic sands in the continent. Leisure activities like running and cycling have dramatically increased and are in and of themselves lucrative industries that could provide entrepreneurs with pipelines to emerging markets.

The success of these two informal sports have been greatly influenced by the prominence of East African runners such as Eliud Kipchoge and Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya – who won the men’s and women’s marathons respectively in Tokyo – as well as Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei who claimed gold in both the men’s 5,000m and 10,000m events. More and more Africans are taking to the streets as evidenced by the The Lagos City Marathon which had stolen its numbers from 50,000 registered participants in 2016 150,000 in 2020.

Joshua Cheptegei, Uganda

Esports – organized, competitive electronic gaming – is similarly on the rise. As more Africans gain access to reliable and fast internet services, this nascent branch of sport is gaining traction. In South Africa’s e-commerce Sports & Outdoor segment projected 2020 revenue is $429m with an estimated 11.6% annual growth rate through 2024. Perhaps the most difficult challenge facing the sports industry in Africa is talent retention. Lucrative contracts in Europe, North America and Asia will always attract stars with a desire to maximize their earning potential in a career path that affords a limited window of opportunity. Of course this is not only an issue for sport.

Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya

According to the World Bank, migration from African countries doubled to 30.6m between 1980 and 2010, with half of these people leaving the continent altogether. Amongst these migration figures, the African Union estimates that approximately 70,000 per year are skilled professionals.

But if the subsidiary industries such as broadcasting, retail and sponsorship can leverage off the mass appeal of sports around the globe, and more and more African athletes can shine in the world’s top competitions, local leagues could soon challenge their global counterparts. If that seems like a stretch, then perhaps consider that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal) and Hakim Ziyech (Morocco) are just a few footballers who were born outside of Africa but chose to represent their nations of origin. This in turn can yield significant economic returns by promoting tourism, arts and culture and regional integration.