NBA Africa - it's been a blast!

This week will be my final work week at NBA Africa. In mid-November, I announced my decision to resign as CEO, NBA Africa on December 31, to pursue other business interests (after a well-earned career sabbatical).

This role has been an amazing journey of leading the “scale-up” of the NBA’s activities and businesses in Africa. With the help of an amazing team of dedicated and passionate colleagues, I have helped capitalize and build a multi-faceted business enterprise that has executed a very ambitious growth plan. The business is now well positioned for future growth. It’s a good time to pass the baton to a new leader who will take NBA Africa through its next phase, and for me to take an extended break to recover from the 400+ days of travel in the past couple of years, while exploring other exciting new paths in the next phase of my personal and professional journey.

Since my announcement, I’ve been focused on landing the final calendar year deliverables of this growth phase of NBA Africa.?Our activities in the last six weeks have been emblematic of the scope and breadth of the platform we have built, and highlight much of what we have accomplished as a team over the last few years:

• The BAL announced its fourth season, expanding to playing in four iconic African cities, including in South Africa for the first time.
• NBA Nigeria executed the second edition of NBA x Art in Lagos, in collaboration with acclaimed artist Dennis Osadebe.
• We launched a basketball court in Cape Town with Oscar-winning actor and NBA Africa investor Forest Whitaker, and unveiled a basketball court and launched the first Jr NBA league in Juba, South Sudan with Stanbic Bank, and the Luol Deng Foundation.

• We opened the new NBA office in Nairobi, Kenya, with 5-time NBA Champion Ron Harper in attendance, making that the fifth NBA office on the continent, and the third opened since 2020.
• Our content team launched our first documentary series, Born and Bred, that tells the remarkable stories of five NBA Academy Africa athletes.
• We expanded our retail footprint by opening new NBA stores in Cape Town and Durban, graced by the presence of NBA Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler.
• Among all this, I was honored to speak at SuperReturn Africa in Cape Town, and at the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa summit in Abu Dhabi, telling the story of NBA Africa’s impact on the African investment and cultural landscapes.

This is an exciting time for Africa's sports ecosystems and creative economy! It's been a fascinating period during which I've been blessed and privileged to lead NBA Africa, an inspiring example of the resolve and investment that it takes to realize the continent’s immense potential.

I am proud of everything we have accomplished in this journey of using sports to make a transformative impact on the lives of Africa’s youth while building the business of the NBA in Africa. Within the framework of an aggressive strategic plan, and starting in the middle of the pandemic, we launched the Basketball Africa League, Africa’s first professional pan-African club league. We expanded the footprint of the NBA business on the continent through new offices, broader content distribution and new businesses, including retail and merchandising. We added several new partnerships. We expanded the number and geographic reach of our grassroots programs to reach thousands of youth directly and millions indirectly, with a special focus on equal representation of girls in our programs. The NBA Academy Africa continues to develop amazing talent and promises to deliver homegrown stars who will help transform fandom on the continent. As a result of our collective efforts, Africa’s sports ecosystems, especially in basketball, are attracting new investment dollars, and are on a path to contribute meaningfully to Africa’s economic growth.

I am particularly grateful for the relationships formed across the basketball and sports ecosystem in Africa, the USA and beyond. There are so many people to recognize, but too many to name individually in a message like this. I do want to thank Adam Silver, Mark Tatum, and the NBA Africa Board, for trusting me to lead the NBA Africa journey as CEO. Thanks to all our external investors who have committed to this vision and who have been generous with their time, moral support and insights. Thank you to the entire NBA Africa and BAL teams, especially the Africa Senior Leadership Team, for your partnership, support, commitment, and friendship in this journey. Thank you to the numerous NBA colleagues in New York, London, the other international offices and at various NBA teams for their support for the league’s work in Africa and willingness to pitch in to help when necessary. Thanks to our amazing partners (broadcast, sponsorship, retail, content distribution, merchandising and licensing), who have contributed to the substantial revenue growth that NBA Africa has recorded in the last few years. Thanks to all our friends and supporters in FIBA and FIBA Africa, the national federations, and other parts of the basketball ecosystem for their friendship and support.

?And a big THANK YOU to all the basketball-obsessed athletes and fans on the continent and in the diaspora, whose excitement and energy fuel our work every day.

After these intense few years of work and travel, I am looking forward to the career sabbatical I set my heart on about a year ago. Several months of relaxed travel, academic study, spiritual renewal, bucket list trips, and reconnecting with family and friends await me.

After some rest and renewal, I will continue working on my life’s mission - helping Africa and Africans build successful transformative enterprises. I am keen to use my unique experience set – at the intersection of banking, investments and finance, sports and the creative economy, Africa and the US, and pan-African strategic business leadership and operations – to shape exciting platforms that tap into the opportunities presented by Africa’s burgeoning population of creative and dynamic youth, whose passion and energy continue to inspire me.

It's been fun, it's been impactful, it's been a blast! Stay tuned and see you in 2024.

Happy Holidays!

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