NBA President Masai Ujiri urges African leaders to invest in sports at Africa Investment Forum

The President of Toronto Raptors, Masai Ujiri made his second appearance at the Africa Investment Forum 2019 that took place between November 11 and 13 in South Africa’s Johannesburg.

The 49-year-old English-born Nigerian professional basketball executive (and former player who is the president of basketball operations of the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association) has worked hard over the past year to scout talent and raise awareness about the success and growth of sports on the continent.

“We should be supporting teams here in Africa that should be our vision. Sports is the next big thing in Africa.” Ujiri said, calling on investors to pay “close attention.” With all the talent in sports, there is no way it should be ignored, he said, reeling off a list of players from Africa on the Raptors team. According to him, the sports ecosystem should be the biggest thing on our continent and has the potential to create jobs and improve livelihoods. He also added that the African players are in top leagues worldwide and a former footballer is even president of an African state.

On the other hand, the co-Founder and Managing Director of Alitheia Capital, Tokunboh Ishmael, and the Chief Executive Officer and founder Mara Group and Mara Foundation joined Masai Ujiri for a panel discussion titled “Promises made, Promises kept”. Both the entrepreneurs were on the stage to share their testimonies and the only President of National Basketball Association urged the investors to look at sports and showed off the NBA championship trophy which at the 2018 Forum he had promised to secure.

“We need to invest in sports, it should be the greatest ecosystem in the planet,” Ujiri opined. He revealed that the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame had paid attention to his call and was giving support including a good ‘push’ for sports. He said that Rwanda’s Head of State had built a beautiful area in Kigali in just a year.

Masai Ujiri also paid his gratitude to Paul Kagame and the President of African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina. “We should be supporting teams in Africa…The talent in Africa is incredible, it’s like gold and diamond…we have to represent and believe in it,” he added.