There has been much talk of MMA as a sport across the continent, especially in recent time. A sport that has strong roots across Africa with traditional wrestling forms such as Dambe extremely popular in West Africa.

With the recent news of the Professional Fighters League launching in Africa in Q1 and leading athletes at the top of MMA such as Francis Ngannou, Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya & Dricus du Plessis.

In this episode, we have an insightful conversation with Maxwell Kalu, who is spearheading the growth of the African Warriors Fighting Championships. A growing tournament, currently in Nigeria, looking to take Dambe across the continent and develop the next stars of the continent.

Timestamps:

[00:00] Introduction and Welcome

[00:25] Exploring Traditional Wrestling and Dambe

[00:56] Guest Introduction: Maxwell Kalu

[02:47] The Cultural Significance of Dambe

[05:15] International Appeal and Growth

[07:39] Synergies with Global Combat Sports

[10:55] Strategic Plans for African Warriors

[13:25] The Genesis of African Warriors

[19:05] Commercial Milestones and Media Strategy

[28:31] Fighter Stories and Personalities

[33:05] Future Prospects and Call to Action

[35:34] Conclusion and Farewell

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In our 2nd part of our podcast with the Sporting Chance Fund, we delve deeper into the landscape of the investment sector of the African Sports market.

With many global organisations assessing how to best enter the African market, this has also seen a growth in investors in the market too from wealthy individuals, angels investors and Venture Capitalists.

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Would you say that there is a growing merge between investment and the African sports market?

With many global organisations assessing how to best enter the African market, this has also seen a growth in investors in the market too from wealthy individuals, angels investors and Venture Capitalists.

This episode, we take a deep dive into the investor landscape and assess how investment can be used as a catalytic converter to boost the African sports market and what really do investors look for before investing?

Gabriel Ajala is joined by Charlie Appleton & Anjali Saini from the Sporting Chance Fund & Sebastian McKinlay.

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We have often heard of the growing football academies across Africa. Be it from global sporting brands establishing their own or more local academies.

What if we were to inform you of an academy that caters to multiple sports, including swimming, basketball, football & more?

Well, that is where City Sports Groups comes into play. A multi-sport academy based in Nigeria but with plans to expand across Africa.

Gabriel Ajala sat down with the CEO of City Sports Group, Shola Opaleye, as they had a fascinating insight into the business model of a successful sports academy plus much more.

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Download the Report: ⁠ASU AFCON 2023 Overview⁠

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Do you think the NFL entering the African market is a positive development for Africa?

Why has it only taken until BAL Season 4 for a powerhouse such as South Africa to stage a conference?

In this episode, Gabriel Ajala and his guest, Kevin Bahun-Wilson (co-founder of ⁠Afroballers⁠) touch on these questions as they discuss the emergence and growth of American sports in Africa.

This was an insightful and fun episode to hear first-hand the opportunities that the NFL & NBA have in store for potential and future athletes as well as the market growth opportunities.

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Download the Report: ⁠ASU AFCON 2023 Overview⁠

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This episodes provides is an insightful episode with Abimbola Ilo, the Founder & Chairman of the leading sports marketing and management company headquartered in Lagos.

The conversation covered the sponsorship landscape in Africa, how CAF have done an amazing job with AFCON and what can be done to improve the standards of sports in Nigeria.

This is a really insightful conversation and one that you can't miss.

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Download the Report: ⁠ASU AFCON 2023 Overview⁠

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What was your perception of Africa football perhaps 10 years ago compared to how it is now?

In this episode, we sat down with the leading sports journalist and ambassador for African Football, Mimi Fawaz, live from Abidjan. Mimi has worked for the likes BBC & SkySports plus featured across various other platforms.

The standards and perception of African football has evolved over the years from something that not many people had interest in, to it now being globally respected and "cool". We delve into this topic and discuss what latest legacy will AFCON have on domestic football.

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Download the Report: ⁠ASU AFCON 2023 Overview⁠

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Have you ever heard of Freestyle Football? This is a growing sport that engages with some of the world's biggest brands such as Red Bull & Juventus.

In this episode, we sit down with the Founder of the World Freestyle Football Association, Dan Wood, on how he built this global community.

It was an excellent conversation on which we also covered the foundations of Dan's purpose which is education & social impact and how this should be incorporated in every organisation.

How do we measure success? Through Ubuntu.

Listen to the whole podcast to find out what that means.

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Download the Report: ⁠ASU AFCON 2023 Overview⁠

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Happy New Year and welcome to the first podcast of 2024. We hope you are well rested and excited to tackle the year ahead.

Our first podcast of the year is a discussion with Gabriel Ajala, Gary Rathbone, CEO at Sportscape Media and James Torvaney, Managing Director of Pulse Sports, making his debut.

We began the podcast by discussing the AFCON 2023 Overview Report that we have recently released. This document is your one-stop insight into all the key business information pertaining to the tournament including commercial and media partners, all the brands involved, social media and fan engagement analytics plus much more.

This was a packed episode with alot of insights as they spoke about AFCON & What trends they look forward to seeing in 2024.

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Download the Report: ⁠ASU AFCON 2023 Overview⁠

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In this episode, Gabriel Ajala is joined by Andy Howes (Co-Founder & Director of AfroSports) and Gary Al-Smith, leading sports journalist from Ghana.

The 3 take a look back at the Inaugural ASU Connex Summit which took place on 20th October 2023 in partnership with Charles Russell Speechlys and AfroSport. They discuss their key takeaways from the summit and the value that such events bring.

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