Rwanda bags a new major sports sponsorship deal ⚽️🇷🇼

🇷🇼 Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and FC Bayern München announced a landmark 5-year partnership ⚽️ ⬇️.

The partnership will see the #VisitRwanda branding appear in front of the 75,000 seats in the Allianz Arena and the Bundesliga club has committed to develop youth football initiatives in the country.

Do you remember the reactions back in 2018 when Rwanda signed its first sponsorship deal with English Premier League's Arsenal F.C ? 🧐 The "international community" was quite upset, because how dare does a "poor country" spend his precious dollars on some vanity project ?

I particularly loved the response from Hon. Clare Akamanzi at the time :
🎤 "How is our goal to double tourism revenue going to happen if we are not proactive about how we market ourselves to the world?”

5 years later here's what Rwanda has been up to :

➡️ The partnership with Arsenal was renewed for the 2021-2023 period (reported at $10 million a year).

➡️ The country signed a partnership with Paris Saint-Germain which has been renewed through to 2025 (the initial 3-year-deal amount was valued at $9-11 million according to Reuters).

📌 Rwanda has also pushed to become an African sports hub :

📝 They recently signed a deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s BAL to host the finals for another in 2024, 2026 and 2028.

🏢 The CAF Confederation of African Football announced that its African Super League entity would be headquartered in Rwanda (the country also hosted the latest FIFA Congress).

What has been the impact of Rwanda's aggressive push in sports ?

🏀 The BAL alone is estimated to have contributed $9.1 million to the Rwanda economy since its launch.

📺 According to Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the PSG & Arsenal partnership brought in $160 million in media value (x3 the initial amounts reportedly invested in those partnerships).

🦍 Rwanda recorded more than 1 million tourists last year, bringing in near half a billion in revenue (the country aims to reach $800 million by 2025). The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) sector is said to contribute to over 20% of the overall tourism sector.