To build 100 basketball courts across the continent
Giants of Africa, a nonprofit organization co-founded by Toronto Raptors vice president and president Masai Ujiri, plans to build 100 basketball courts in Africa, nurture talent and develop sports on the continent in the near future.
Ujiri, who recently organized a business forum and groundbreaking ceremony for a basketball court in Kigali, Rwanda, to recognize Africa’s emerging sports ecosystem and its growing ability to drive the continent forward, noted that sports are another source for generating income among African countries.
The business forum, which was held in conjunction with the 2022 Basketball Africa League (BAL) playoffs and finals, was dubbed the ‘Moving Sports Forward Forum’. It brought together prominent sports, business and government leaders to discuss the critical role of sports infrastructure investment, governance and franchise development and its impact on the emerging population of young Africans.
On the occasion, Africa Investment Forum Senior Director Chinelo Anohu, two-time NBA All-Star Luol Deng and South Sudan Basketball Federation President and BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall raised on stage in an interactive panel discussion to share ideas on how to develop sport in Africa.
Closing the event, Rwandan President Paul Kagame stressed the importance of developing the sports industry. In his words, he said: “My feeling is one of pride and happiness that something we have done and it has materialized… it is going to have an impact for our young people and the development of talent in our continent.”
Also on the occasion, the Giants of Africa unveiled a newly renovated basketball court at Club Rafiki in Rwanda, as part of the organization’s 100-court infrastructure investment across the continent that has introduced new facilities in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire since its September announcement.
According to Ujiri, “Our investments have the power to transform coming generations into sport as a career and the sports infrastructure is the foundation.
“Sport fosters togetherness and can empower our youth everywhere, just like the young men and women we see here at Club Rafiki, Rwanda.
“My hope is that we can come together, across sectors, united as one continent in a shared vision for the future of sports,” he said.
Present at the forum were the CEO of NBA Africa, Victor Williams, the Rwandan Sports Minister, Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju, and Stephanie Alamba, administrator of the Rafiki Club.
The program concluded with a youth basketball and life skills clinic held in conjunction with NBA Africa for boys and girls from the community.