African Sports Tourism Summit & Olympic roundtable Ghana 2019 gathers momentum

The African Sports Tourism Summit & Olympic Roundtable which co-headlines the African Sports Tourism Week Ghana 2019 will witness the convergence of sports federations/commissions/councils, Olympic committees, tourism boards, tour operators and other stakeholders from both sports and tourism landscapes. They will be cross-breeding ideas and exchange a hand of fellowship, towards an Africa where the sport is seen and approached as tourism.

It will hold at Oak Plaza Hotels in Accra Ghana, on the 19th – 20th of September, 2019.

On the list of speakers are Juliet Bauwah, Dev Govindjee, Geoff Wilson, Tafadzwa Mapanzure and Abi Ijasanmi.

Juliet Bauwah is a renowned sports journalist, broadcaster and founder of African Women Sports Summit. She’s a contributor on a number of popular sports media including BBC and Goal.com.

Dev Govindjee is a South African cricket legend who played in 45 first-class matches for Eastern Province between 1971 and 1983. He worked with International Cricket Council for more than a decade. He is currently an international match referee.

A member of the board at Tourism Northern Ireland – Geoff Wilson runs his own marketing and communications consultancy business, with a focus primarily on sport. Previously Head of Marketing and Communications (Irish FA), he was responsible for public relations, commercial programmes, brand development and communication to fans. Geoff works with the likes of FIFA, UEFA, AFC, FIBA and other global sports organizations in a wide range of areas from strategic planning, marketing and communications, digital, fans engagement, public affairs and knowledge sharing/exchange programmes. In addition, Geoff consults with a number of sports tech companies in the CRM, eSports, wearable and fans engagement space. Geoff is a part-time lecturer in marketing at Queen’s University Belfast and is Chair of Netball Northern Ireland.

Tafadzwa Mapanzure is a sports industry consultant with years of experience in sports marketing in Southern Africa region.

Abi Ijasanmi was one of the first female agents negotiating salaries, endorsements and media deals for US Basketball players in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. A Commercial Lawyer with over 10 years business development experience, she joined Trans-Atlantic Sports marketing as an intern in 1998 and in 2001 became responsible for representing talent in markets as diverse as Lebanon, Italy, Lithuania and France. Overseeing player, team and media relations, and her efforts made it possible for players to venture into unknown territories and command professional fees. Abi spearheaded the women’s division for TASM, the first of its kind in Europe.

A confident negotiator, Abi is an accomplished closer with demonstrable experience of building partnership and constructive relationships within international markets. Her legal/commercial skill set enables her to operate at both the strategic and operational levels to help client’s focus their resources and expand their revenue base.

With an ability to identify new opportunities and a passion for the potential of African Basketball, Abi has positioned herself as an intermediary for international investors focusing on basketball on the African continent. In 2006, Abi’s expertise was called upon by Olympic Gold Medalist, Tessa Sanderson to provide legal and marketing consultancy to her newly created sports academy for the London’s 2012 games.

She’s currently Director for Africa at DiamondAir International.

Speaking on the event, Deji Ajomale-McWord, President of African Sports Tourism Week, said “our goal is to increase the gross domestic products of African nations, through better delivered sporting events and sports holiday. Sports can only be best commodified through experiences that only hospitality and tourism can tailor.

We will be moving to different African nations, year in year out, conduct the marriage of sports and tourism and watch over their romance to ensure it produces offspring of socio-economic gains.

Our theme for this year is ‘Aligning Sports Tourism with Sustainable Development Goals’ and we shall be discussing other topics bordering on the bidding process, why Africa isn’t attracting enough sporting events and commodifying sports holiday in Africa”.

Interested participants can register here https://forms.gle/6Ggc7tKhJbZ3dGj19.