For years, the global narrative around Africa’s sports sector has been both simplistic and misleading. We’re told that the continent “lacks a skilled workforce” that talent is scarce, infrastructure is insufficient, and leadership pipelines are thin. But that story misses the truth.
Africa doesn’t suffer from a shortage of talent. It suffers from a chronic failure to invest in its most abundant and overlooked resource: women and girls.
As the continent’s $12 billion sports economy accelerates toward a projected $20 billion by 2035, half of its population remains systematically excluded from meaningful participation. The result? A self-inflicted talent crisis that threatens to hold back one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.
The statistics are stark. Women’s sports across Africa receive only 3% of national sports budgets, attract a mere 1% of global sponsorship, and get just 4 hours of television coverage for every 100 hours broadcast.
This chronic underinvestment creates a vicious cycle. Without funding, pathways disappear. Without pathways, participation collapses. As a result, 68% of female athletes drop out by age 18, often due to unpaid domestic responsibilities. Nearly half (42%) rely on abusive partners just to survive.
The leadership gap is just as severe. Women hold only 24.1% of National Olympic Committee positions and 27.7% of national federation leadership roles. And with more than 95% of African players lacking proper representation, exploitation and financial instability are rampant.
This isn’t a talent problem it’s a design problem. The system was never built with women in mind.
Africa is home to the youngest population on Earth, with 70% under the age of 30. This is a demographic dividend that could fuel the sports sector for generations — not just with future athletes, but also with managers, marketers, physiotherapists, analysts, agents, and technical experts.
Yet the potential remains largely untapped. Youth unemployment in countries like Kenya hovers around 40%, with over 5.2 million young adults actively seeking work. With the right investment in sports education and professional training, Africa could solve two problems at once: reducing unemployment while building the skilled workforce the industry desperately needs.
The numbers speak for themselves. Africa’s sports economy is projected to grow by 8% annually over the next three to five years, creating an estimated 285,000 new jobs by 2035.
Major investors have already taken notice. The IFC and Proparco’s $50 million investment in Helios Sports and Entertainment and the Basketball Africa League’s $1 billion valuation demonstrate clear commercial confidence in Africa’s sports future.
Grassroots organizations are proving the model works. Initiatives like Rise Her Game and SKEIYA, in partnership with institutions like the Business of Sports Institute Africa, are building structured pathways to train and empower thousands of Africans — with a deliberate focus on integrating girls into elite sports careers.
The message is clear: the gap isn’t talent. The gap is training, opportunity, and investment.
Programs like the CAF Women Instructors Development Program, which launched with 29 participants from 22 member associations, show how targeted investment in women’s education can multiply impact across the sector. Similarly, the Rugby Africa–LUNEX Sports Management Training Programme is empowering female leaders from 21 countries, building mentorship networks that strengthen the pipeline from grassroots to governance.
These partnerships demonstrate a simple truth: when women are intentionally included, the entire ecosystem benefits.
Diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones on every metric — creativity, problem-solving, and profitability. In sports, diversity isn’t just a social good; it’s a competitive advantage.
By training girls to become tomorrow’s sports professionals, Africa isn’t just filling jobs. It’s cultivating innovators who can drive the next wave of growth in areas like AI analytics, digital fan engagement, data science, and sports technology.
Initiatives such as the Sport for Development in Africa Regional Project and CFK Africa’s Girls’ Empowerment Program prove that sports-based interventions build essential skills critical thinking, teamwork, communication that employers seek across industries.
Empowerment must go hand in hand with economic security. Programs like Rise Her Game ’s “Paycheck Revolution” are tackling the root causes of talent loss by guaranteeing wages for top-tier players and offering financial literacy, career planning, and athlete safeguarding support.
Meanwhile, the Women’s Sports Empowerment Programme by SSEPA is creating sustainable structures through women’s football development leagues, coaching and leadership academies, and talent identification programs. These initiatives are laying the foundation for systemic, long-term change.
The question facing the sports industry is no longer “Where will the talent come from?” It’s “Who are we willing to invest in to build it?”
Africa’s demographic advantage won’t last forever. The growth trajectory is clear. The proof of concept exists.
It’s time for the global sports ecosystem to stop viewing Africa as a problem to solve and start seeing it as a partner in progress. The talent is abundant. The economic case is compelling. The strategy is already working.
The continent that produced icons like Mohamed Salah, Eliud Kipchoge, and Faith Kipyegon can just as easily produce world-class sports business leaders if we choose to invest in the 70% of the population we’ve systematically ignored.
The sports industry’s talent crisis has a solution. It’s not about lamenting the gap. It’s about training the girls who will bridge it. And the time to act is now.