With its tech accelerator, NBA confirms "investment mode" in Africa

The NBA's commitment to Africa's sports business landscape took center stage yesterday at its headquarters, showcasing the continent's entrepreneurial talent through the inaugural Triple Double Accelerator Demo Day. This event highlighted the NBA's strategic focus on Africa's burgeoning sports market and tech ecosystem, placing the league well ahead of the other major sports leagues in terms of international expansion.

NBA's Investment in African Sports Industry

Following a mini-showcase by Nigerian award-winning artist, Patoranking, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reaffirmed the league's dedication to Africa, emphasizing both basketball growth and economic opportunities as the league’s strategic objectives. "The NBA is in investment mode in Africa," Silver stated, underlining the continent's potential as a key consumer market.

Triple Double Accelerator: Nurturing African Startups at the intersection of sports, entertainment and tech.

The accelerator program attracted 700 applications from nine African countries, demonstrating the continent's vibrant startup ecosystem in this vertical. Ten finalists pitched their innovative ideas to a distinguished panel of judges, including:

• Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave

• Dan Roseinsweig, CEO of Chegg

• Joanne Yoo, Partner at Development Partners International

• Crystal Rugege, Managing Director of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

• Franciscus Diaba, Assistant General Counsel at the NBA

Winners and Prizes

Festival Coins, creator of the "Tix Africa" platform, secured the $50,000 grand prize. This victory aligns with the growing competition in Africa's ticketing industry, as evidenced by Ticketmaster's recent acquisition of Quicket. Other winners included lifestyle sustainable brand Salubata, Kenyan event management platform HustleSasa and Egyptian gaming company UBR VR. Each received respectively $40,000, $30,000 and $20,000 in prize money. The remaining six finalists each received $10,000, totaling $200,000 in prizes allocated for this year’s competition.

NBA Africa's Continued Support to Africa’s Tech Ecosystem.

Clare Akamanzi, CEO of NBA Africa, and Gbemisola Abudu, Vice-President of NBA in Nigeria, encouraged startups to leverage the NBA's platform beyond the competition. In the past two years, the league opened offices in each of the winning startups’ home countries which could lead to the startups benefiting from opportunities to collaborate.

This year's program was supported by investment management firm Kuramo Capital, Nigerian fintech Paystack, and the Nigerian University of Technology and Management. While future iterations are yet to be confirmed, the success of this inaugural event suggests promising prospects for continued investment in African sports business innovation from the NBA.