adminRicky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
RELEGATED Premiership club Bantu Rovers FC are hoping to score big by creating business partnerships at Africa’s leading business conference — Soccerex—which started yesterday and ends today in Durban, South Africa.
Tshintsha Guluva’s manager Wilbert Sibanda left the country on Monday for Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium which is the venue for the third edition of Soccerex where the football industry comes together to learn, network and do business.
Sibanda, whose club already has established links in the United States, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, believes attending the conference will advance Bantu Rovers’ future plans which include setting up an academy as well as creating new relations with top clubs.
“Obviously this is a big forum in as far as African football is concerned where there will be over 1,000 guests. We realised that even if we’ve been relegated, Bantu Rovers will still be around and hence taking advantage of part sponsorship from SuperSport to attend Soccerex where we hope to create synergies with clubs from all over the world like Liverpool, Manchester City, Sunderland, Kaizer Chiefs and Asec Mimosa who have thriving academies,” said Sibanda.
“Creating opportunities for youngsters is what Bantu Rovers is about and we believe creating new synergies will foster our cause.”
Part of Sibanda’s expenses to Soccerex are being catered for by SuperSport who made an undertaking to foot part of the bill during a Castle Lager Premiership board of governors’ workshop moderated by Stanley Mathews in Harare last week.
Soccerex is attended by leading stakeholders from the African continent. It is used as a platform to grow and unite the game across the region, attracting investors from the rest of the world to learn about local best practices and do business with the African football industry.
There are also benefits from commercial opportunities around academies in Africa, from Manchester City providing insight on their community-based involvement in academies around South Africa, to Gerard Houllier sharing the blueprint behind one of the most renowned academies in the world, Clairefontaine, responsible for the development of many players of the 1998 French World Cup winning squad.
In attendance will be European and African club commercial directors, from the likes of Manchester City FC, Sunderland FC, Kaizer Chiefs, Zambia’s Zesco United, Safa, Jomo Cosmos, Asante Kotoko of Ghana, AmaZulu FC, Maritzburg FC, Platinum Stars and a host of successfully-run clubs.
Meanwhile, according to the Soccerex website, Zifa president Cuthbert Dube had been scheduled to join his South African counterpart Danny Jordan and Jamal Milanzi of Tanzania this morning to discuss issues around “controlling the national game.”
In their discussions, the FA presidents are expected to discuss the challenges of the job including league and club governance, youth development, attracting investment and qualifying for major tournaments.
Online Reporter