Treat sports as business in Ghana – Stakeholders
The fourth Accra Sports Expo 2012 on Tuesday opened in Accra with a call on stakeholders to treat sports as a business other than leisure.
Opening the event themed “Promoting Africa’s Talents Globally: Role of Sports Business,” Professor Robert Ebo Hinson, Head of the Department of Marketing and Customer Management (M&CM), University of Ghana Business School said sports is a vital tool for the economic development and should be accorded the expected recognition and professional expertise.
He explained there is a huge gap between Africa and the Europe in the area, due to lack of professional expertise accorded to sports and the fact that stakeholders have yet to realize the business aspect of sports.
Prof. Hinson urged the various National Sports Associations to deploy effective marketing strategies in their duties as well as effective private sector partnership in the attainment of their targets.
Magnus Rex Dandqauh, Executive Chairman, RICS Consult Limited, organizers of the event said four-day gathering will provide a platform for education and training of personnel in the sporting field.
The Executive Chairman said it will also serve as a launching pad for the realization of the business opportunities that comes with sport.
He said the event will also showcase the first National Arm-Wrestling Championship to promote the sports in the country.
Seth Adjei Baah, President of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasized on the need to strengthen the link between sports and business to realize the use of sports as a tool for social development.
He urged stakeholders to develop talents to derive the maximum benefits since sports has the tendency to reduce unemployment by creating jobs through the participation of the youth in sports.
He disclosed that the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry has added Sports to its list of industries worth promoting backed by the abundance of talents in Ghana and Africa as a whole.
“Sports is now serious business bringing in a lot of return on investment,” he concluded.
RICS Consult, Ghana’s foremost sports business consultancy firm is organizing the programme which will focus on ways of leveraging all facets of sports business principles and practices to develop and globally promote Africa’s Sports Talents.
The Expo Conference also seeks to reach consensus on a designed road map to assist African nations; governments, sports policy makers, administrators and performers re-think sports as an emerging industry with all its attendant benefits to grow African economies.
Source: GNA