African athletes and sports deserve more than headlines on their greatness.

TL;DR : South Sudan’s men’s basketball team’s first Olympic victory yesterday was a historic moment. It should encourage more institutions (public and corporate) to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to supporting the undertaking of individuals like Luol Deng.

By 2100, or in 19 Olympic Games, there will be more Nigerians and Congolese people than Americans on the planet - according to a recent report by the World Population Prospects.

The amount of investment needed to gear up for African populations doubling in size is considerable. Yet for all the demographic projections and warning signs, a large part of the world seems content to stay blissfully ignorant, little informed or have negative bias about African countries.

Despite a media coverage which has slightly improved but remains far from optimal, there are a few providential stories have emerged and challenged the status quo. South Sudan, the famously dubbed “world’s youngest nation”, has forged a new narrative for itself around its Bright Stars, the men’s basketball team which won its very first Olympic game yesterday. The victory occurred after the organising committee played the wrong anthem and a few days after American sports pundits used their platform to blatantly disrespect the team. If there’s one thing the Bright Stars have showed the world is their impressive capability to prove it wrong, at every turn. To the newcomers, yesterday’s victory may have felt like a form of revenge on the naysayers, but to those who have been fortunate to follow the path of South Sudan’s basketball since Luol Deng took the helm of the country’s federation at the end of 2019, this victory is the rightful outcome of the hard work and dedication of the players and the staff.

The Bright Stars’ success is part of a recent surge over the past few years where African athletes and teams have shined more consistently on global pitches and fields. To name a few, Barbra Banda who now holds the record of the most hat-tricks in the Olympics, Letsile Tebogo, Botswana’s sprint diamond who is aiming for the throne as Usain Bolt’s heir, Biniam Girmay who became the first cyclist to win the Tour de France’s green jersey (he came first in points). Along with African’s sporting success, the notion of African sports business has been receiving more and more attention: this year alone, Confederation of African football recorded the most global viewership and sponsorship revenue for its African Cup of Nations and private equity funds such as Helios and other African high net worth individuals have been leading the charge with supporting the endeavours of international sporting entities launching spin-off African products such as the Professionals Fighters League. These are promising beginnings of an industry that is finally taking charge with economic players who, at last, are seeing the opportunity of funding the ecosystem necessary for athletic prowess.

To absorb the amount of talents, unlock the soft power that they can generate and entertain and appeal to the next largest consumer markets: we need more. Coach Royal Ivey of the Bright Stars reminded the world yesterday that the undertaking of the South Sudanese Basketball Federation has been largely funded by Luol Deng himself. This should not be the case. And while we praise Deng for his leadership and selflessness, the best way to truly support his efforts and that of his team, the best way to truly stand next to African athletes is not to clap, or share content, but to pull out check books.

As someone who started her career in media and PR, I would be a hypocrite to suggest that the media coverage does not matter, it is part of the equation. The coverage around the Bright Stars’ success story has showed us the efforts that still need to be made on that front: so long as we leave our local media underfunded and let western media powerhouses write their occasional hot takes, our narrative will continue to be misrepresented. Just as with women’s basketball in the United States, my wish is for more authentic and legitimate voices to get the platforms they deserve rather than letting the likes of retired NBA players expose how little they know about Africa.

Yet our focus cannot be on the headlines alone: African athletes are exceptional, not only for their skills but for the adversity they must face. That is not news. Our focus needs to be on steering the conversation forward in the very rooms where choices are being made about how the industry evolves at a global level. Our focus needs to be on pulling the strings that will get more institutional investors, domestic and foreign, to understand the opportunities that exist in backing sports in Africa. Our focus needs to be on setting economic models that aren’t mere copy pastes of what has been done in other markets but rather consider the economic realities of our own.

So far, the revolution around African sports has been the result of the vision and efforts of a few individuals. At the scale of the continent, only a few institutions and governments have really worked towards executing a truly powerful vision on sports: Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Benin’s Patrice Talon lead the charge as the Heads of State who seem to truly grasp the type of influence and economic returns sports can yield. It is high time for the rest of our institutions and corporations to catch on. We need more.