Her Excellency Hajia Samira Bawumia, distinguished African women in sports, all other protocols duly observed, I welcome you all to the third Africa Women’s Sports Summit.
It gives me absolute pleasure that once again, we are gathered to deliberate and proffer solutions to some of the very topical issues in our sector.
It was just three years ago that we birthed this idea to foster greater female inclusion in the African sports scene. Today, we share a collective interest in seeing the event grow.
This year, the Africa Women’s Sports Summit is looking at the wider subject of leadership in sports in Africa and why stronger institutions matter.
We settled on Sports Leadership in Africa and Building Stronger Institutions because it’s just about the right time.
In the last few years, we have complained about the level of leadership in sports in Africa. It is obvious there is a yearn for one that truly inspires.
Now more than before, it has become important to focus energies on ensuring that Africa’s sports institutions are built on leadership that is intentional.
Our “Be the Change” theme is a clarion call to all stakeholders to be positive and progressive change agents in their respective fields.
The change starts with us and we must be active partakers.
Today, you will hear from some of the very respected women in African sports. Our speakers have a proven record of being amongst the best in their area of practice. We are happy to welcome Barbara Gonzalez of Simba Sports Club in Tanzania. Barbara is a role model for most African women in sports who want to go into full-time administration. It is evident what she has done with Simba. Also joining is the ever-bubbly Thato Moeng of SuperSport. We are seeking perspectives from Thato on what she has seen, so far as sports leadership in the continent is concerned. For someone who spends every day tracking sports leadership issues in Africa as a sports journalist, she definitely has a lot to share with us today.
We are also glad to be joined by the very respected Naa Odofoley Nortey, a private legal practitioner and CAF Match Commissioner. Naa needs no introduction. She has been there and done that. She offers so much hope and inspiration to young African women, particularly those who want to still keep their 9-5 jobs while still actively involved in sports.
We are also excited to have in our midst today Her Excellency Hajia Samira Bawumia, Second lady of the Republic of Ghana. Her Excellency is a known enabler of women’s empowerment through her special initiative, the “Samira Empowerment & Humanitarian Projects (SEHP).” Her acceptance to be special guest for the 2022 Africa Women’s Sports Summit only reaffirms her passion.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am particularly excited about the growth of the summit in only three years. Three years ago, we set out to present a platform for mentorship, training and greater female inclusion in the African sports scene.
When we started this, it was to build a community where African women in sports can tap into enabling opportunities to grow their personal and career goals.
The way we see it, we have an idea that encourages the African women in sports to attain any height they want to. Of course, this would mean bringing them closer and exposing them to these opportunities and what is possible.
We are building this for the African woman, who is actively contributing to or engaged in sports at any level.
The maiden edition featured participants from all over the world under the theme “Take Your Place”. It was a groundbreaking event that empowered young female sports journalists to lead and impact their communities.
The testimonies are endless. Till date, we keep getting them from people who have been directly impacted. We are happy to note that more young women say to us that they decided to Take their Place in Sports Journalism after the event.
This is what we set out to achieve, and I am glad that it goes to our collective credit. We all made it happen. You all here are the reason why an African woman somewhere didn’t give up on their dream.
Very soon, you will see the AWSS Impact story on your screens.
Since 2019:
– We have mentored over 5000 young and established African women in sports through our special Speaker sessions and Bootcamp, one of which was led by the Secretary general of FIFA Madam Fatma Samoura in 2020.
– We have provided sporting equipment to the Assamensudu Bayern Munich lower-tier football club in the Western Region of Ghana, owned and coached by Madam Patience Aggrey. This is a woman who has for over two decades been developing talents on her own with little or no support. Through the Summit, we were able to get them some support.
– We have also aided over a dozen African women in sports through referral opportunities with partner organizations
In the coming years, we hope to institute an online school dedicated to various areas of interest from sports leadership, business, sports medicine and journalism. We also look forward to starting an internship placement drive. The goal is to get a decent number of African women in sports employment-ready every year. We hope to achieve this with our partner organizations.
We have huge dreams for the Africa Women’s Sports Summit. We want to be able to go round the continent with this initiative.
It is important that every African woman in sport living everywhere gets to experience for themselves the full benefits of being in the midst of like-minded people. We are hopeful that beyond this year, this is achievable. The event itself is expected to grow into a week-long festival and that excites us.
I want to thank all who continue to support this initiative; from the media to our donors and sponsors all the way from Year 1, as well as our speakers, facilitators and vendors. We are building something beautiful. I want to take this opportunity to call on corporate Ghana and the wider business community in Africa to come with us on this journey.
Ladies and gentlemen, today’s summit presents us with a unique opportunity to Be the Change we want to see.
It’s about time.
Thank you and do have a great event.
