In the latest episode of Connecting Africa, CNN’s Eleni Giokos speaks with Makhtar Diop, the Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, about the vast projected growth of Africa’s sports economy.
Diop tells Giokos that the aim is to create jobs and build the stadiums needed for one of Africa’s fastest-growing creative sectors, “We’ll be able to do $1 billion a year in a creative industry if you had fashion, if you had sports, if you had music, if you had media.”
The Summer Youth Olympic Games are being held in Dakar at the end of October, which, according to Christoph Dubi, Olympic Games Executive Director, is “Incredibly symbolic because the continent has been producing amazing sports competition, including the FIFA World Cup and many others. for the first time, Senegal will be on the map. The continent will be on the map.”
A problem that has faced large-scale stadium investments is the issue of one-off events. To this point, Diop says, “There is multipurpose and I think it’s important to do things and to have arenas that can be used for multiple purposes and second to give to the professional to do it. Governments are not good in managing this.”
Dubi furthers this point with an emphasis on legacy. After the Youth Olympics is over in Dakar, he assures, “This event will leave a lasting impact on Dakar, but also the continent, the workforce and the talents that will have been revealed in the meantime. We have created a program for educating and coaching young talents from Senegal, but from the whole continent on the very specific demands of an event, for that matter, the Youth Games.”
These interviews were featured on the latest episode of Connecting Africa on CNN International.