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Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by P and C Bank.

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Speaker 1: A lot of people think podcasts about work are boring,

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Speaker 1: the PNC Financial Service.

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Speaker 2: Well, let's start with you. You know, your career, coming from

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Speaker 2: the highest levels of basketball, right like playing in the NBA,

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Speaker 2: being a star in the NBA. What made you, you know,

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Speaker 2: want to do a three sixty move and come back

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Speaker 2: home and you know take over South Sadan basketball, right

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Speaker 2: as opposed to just you know, being a GM at

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Speaker 2: an NBA team or you know, being a coach in college.

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Speaker 2: Like you know that a lot of people probably would

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Speaker 2: have took that path.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, great question.

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Speaker 4: You know, for me, coming back was important because obviously

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Speaker 4: being from the continent and coming out of you know,

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Speaker 4: South Sudan and you know, going to Egypt UK the

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Speaker 4: path that you know, I talked about a lot, but

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Speaker 4: it's important because I remember, just to go back. My

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Speaker 4: first time back in South Sudan was twenty ten, right

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Speaker 4: before the independence. I remember, I'm gonna do had a

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Speaker 4: vision of you know, us doing basketball camps in five

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Speaker 4: or six different countries every summer. In these camps we

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Speaker 4: were doing outside outdoor courts. Whoever we wanted to tag along,

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Speaker 4: we would come with us. And it just kept growing

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Speaker 4: and then kept growing. And I just remember, and I

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Speaker 4: said it the other day, I came from, you know,

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Speaker 4: a background that's so similar to all these kids that

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Speaker 4: we were trying to provide an opportunity for. And I

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Speaker 4: just believe that the talent is there. You know, it's

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Speaker 4: just about the organization and an infrastructure, the same things

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Speaker 4: that we talk about, you know, And I've just got

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Speaker 4: to have you know, I've learned so much from basketball,

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Speaker 4: whether it's my high school coach, whether it's playing for

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Speaker 4: Coach k whether it's playing in the NBA for scotscow Tipodeal.

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Speaker 4: And as a player, I always try to read the

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Speaker 4: game so I knew, you know, throughout my camps and

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Speaker 4: everything that I was doing all over the years, the

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Speaker 4: talent that we had and the opportunity that we had,

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Speaker 4: and it was always been my dream, you know, to

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Speaker 4: put South Sudan in a map, but also or to

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Speaker 4: promote basketball and just to show people the potential in

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Speaker 4: the continent.

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Speaker 3: And the timing was just right.

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Speaker 4: When I retired, U b a l obviously was you know,

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Speaker 4: on its way, and I just knew that there was

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Speaker 4: gonna be a lot of focus within the continent with

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Speaker 4: the game of basketball.

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Speaker 2: I was.

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Speaker 4: I was part of the NBA game in South Africa.

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Speaker 4: I just seen you know, the growth of it to

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Speaker 4: where we are here now today, and I wanted to

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Speaker 4: be a part of it, but also to have my

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Speaker 4: input and you know what I can do in South Sudan.

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Speaker 4: Obviously everybody knows the story, but when when I took

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Speaker 4: over that program, you know, I knew that it's a

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Speaker 4: lot to be done. But the one thing that I

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Speaker 4: knew was that if we were able to have a

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Speaker 4: great national team and compete, it will obviously bring excitement

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Speaker 4: and joy to the whole continent, but it will also

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Speaker 4: raise a lot of questions that needed to be answer

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Speaker 4: and we're still working on those and how do we

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Speaker 4: get there?

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Speaker 3: You know?

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Speaker 4: So I knew right away as soon as I retired,

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Speaker 4: I needed to be back here and kind of put

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Speaker 4: in my blueprint.

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Speaker 1: And we thank you for that, my brother Claire. Let's

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Speaker 1: talk about where we're at today, five years of the

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Speaker 1: ba L. Congratulations, not one person clap. I'm not sure why.

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Speaker 3: We talk about the vision for it.

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Speaker 1: Right when you created the idea, we're coming up with

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Speaker 1: the idea, there was a vision of blueprint for it.

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Speaker 1: I want to ask you look five years post that.

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Speaker 1: Has it met your expectations? Has it development going according

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Speaker 1: to plan? What have been some of the struggles into

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Speaker 1: this five year anniversary of b AL.

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Speaker 5: Thank you, and first of.

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Speaker 6: All, Rashad and Troy, welcome to ba L and welcome

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Speaker 6: to the now conference. And thanks to all of you

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Speaker 6: that are still here. We talked about resilience. You're such

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Speaker 6: a resilient audience. You've been here the whole day. But

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Speaker 6: back to your question. So, when NBA decided to invest

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Speaker 6: in Africa, I think there were a.

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Speaker 5: Number of things that were obvious.

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Speaker 6: One of them that has been said, you know throughout

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Speaker 6: the day is that there's talent in Africa. In fact,

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Speaker 6: today in NBA, about ten percent of our players have

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Speaker 6: either directly or indirectly some links to the African continent.

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Speaker 6: Either one of their parents or both their parents are

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Speaker 6: from the African continent. Ten percent and that's about fifty players.

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Speaker 6: So already there's talent that's making its way to the NBA.

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Speaker 6: Now imagine if we were to be intentional about identifying

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Speaker 6: harnessing that talent, I think those numbers would be even

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Speaker 6: more because Africa has has been said, the whole day

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Speaker 6: has talent. But also we know that not everybody can

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Speaker 6: go and play in the NBA. The NBA is about

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Speaker 6: five hundred players and we have one point five billion

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Speaker 6: Africans with a lot of talent, and not everybody will

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Speaker 6: have a chance to go there. So how do we

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Speaker 6: create opportunities for African players or talent to stay on

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Speaker 6: the continent and play professionally in a league such as

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Speaker 6: the bal that we have here. And that was one

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Speaker 6: of the thought processes that went there. But also for

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Speaker 6: those of you who have you know, great fans of NBA,

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Speaker 6: you know that you have to wake up early in

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Speaker 6: the mornings. You know, My husband is one of those

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Speaker 6: who always works up to a m. Three and four

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Speaker 6: m am to switch on the lights and watch a

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Speaker 6: basketball game. But when you're here, you watch a basketball

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Speaker 6: game in no more hours, right at two pm at

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Speaker 6: seven pm, and you can go to bed in normal hours.

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Speaker 6: And so that means we can actually give access to

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Speaker 6: the game of basketball to a lot more people that

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Speaker 6: don't have to work up at two a m Or

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Speaker 6: three and who love the game of basketball. So bringing

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Speaker 6: that opportunity as well to our funds to give them

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Speaker 6: something that they can interact and access was also very

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Speaker 6: very important. The other one who's also being intentional around

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Speaker 6: building the talent. I mean, we've talked about NBA Academy.

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Speaker 6: We've had about some of the players come and Maluach

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Speaker 6: that was talked about in the previous panel, and a

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Speaker 6: couple of others whol Reach chump Chi who's playing for

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Speaker 6: Toronto Raptors. All of them went through NBA Academy and

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Speaker 6: we expect to see even more coming out of that.

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Speaker 6: We have other talent programs that we work very closely with,

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Speaker 6: like Seed Academy in that Amadu founded in Senegal that

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Speaker 6: has had a kind of good relationship with the NBA

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Speaker 6: Academy in terms of supporting to nature the talent in

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Speaker 6: a much bigger skill. So all of that is really

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Speaker 6: about how do you identify that talent. But the last

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Speaker 6: thing is something that my Deputy Commissioner likes to talk about,

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Speaker 6: Mark Tatum. The first conversations they had when they came

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Speaker 6: to Africa at the time more than five years ago,

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Speaker 6: with heads of state, with policymakers, and it became very

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Speaker 6: clear to them and the NBA that if you're going

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Speaker 6: to positively impact AFRICAAN, you do to think about the

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Speaker 6: youth of Africa and what do the youth of Africa need.

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Speaker 6: We've had statistics like seventy percent of the African population,

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Speaker 6: which is one point five billion people, are young people

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Speaker 6: below the age of thirty. So if you're going to

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Speaker 6: really impact Africa, you have to think about the youth

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Speaker 6: and you have to think about how to support the

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Speaker 6: creation of jobs for this youth. So outside the court,

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Speaker 6: you know, apart from the talent those that will play basketball,

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Speaker 6: also creating economic opportunities that will support the youth to

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Speaker 6: get jobs and to support this ecosystem of basketball by

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Speaker 6: having the bal in Africa in the countries that we play.

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Speaker 5: Today, we're playing four countries.

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Speaker 6: Our vision is to play many, many more countries, and

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Speaker 6: you can only imagine and we playing many more countries,

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Speaker 6: the impact will be even more.

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Speaker 5: But today to fifty.

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Speaker 6: Million dollars, thirty seven thousand jobs in just four seasons,

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Speaker 6: imagine how much more transformation we will do if we

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Speaker 6: play in forty countries instead of form in the next

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Speaker 6: ten twenty years.

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Speaker 5: You can just imagine.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's actually my next question in both of you

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Speaker 2: guys can answer this as far as how do you

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Speaker 2: measure success? So looking at five years in the future

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Speaker 2: or ten years in the future, right, what does success

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Speaker 2: look like for this league and just basketball and hole

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Speaker 2: when it comes to the continent Africa? Is it thirty

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Speaker 2: teams across the continent? Is the grassroots program like AAU

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Speaker 2: programs that we see in America? Like, how do you

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Speaker 2: envision the content in Africa as far as a successful

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Speaker 2: movement when it comes to not only NBA basketball, but

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Speaker 2: basketball as a whole.

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Speaker 4: Even both of you, yeah, I think if you look

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Speaker 4: back to what I was saying maybe around twenty ten

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Speaker 4: or even before me, I think if you look at

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Speaker 4: how basketball has been developing, in the continent to begin with.

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Speaker 4: You know, when I first came into the league, everybody

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Speaker 4: was used to NBA. I mean African players being you know,

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Speaker 4: big guys who just rebound and you know, blockshot. Obviously

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Speaker 4: Hakeem Olajuan had the skill, but when he first came over,

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Speaker 4: he was given the opportunity because of his height and

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Speaker 4: so on. So guys, we're just looking for tall African

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Speaker 4: players who you know, are athletic. As the game went on,

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Speaker 4: I remember when I first came in the league, it

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Speaker 4: bothered me that I was only, you know, the only

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Speaker 4: I shouldn't say the only, but one of the few

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Speaker 4: African players who are a primitive player and so on.

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Speaker 4: And now if you look at the league now with

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Speaker 4: you know, Siakam and Embiid and all these guys that

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Speaker 4: are so skilled, it just shows you where the game

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Speaker 4: is going and where the development is going. So I think,

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Speaker 4: as much as you know, we are still improving, you

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Speaker 4: got to give credit to where we are today. And

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Speaker 4: as class said, how many players in the NBA or

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Speaker 4: just around the world that are playing the game that

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Speaker 4: have you know, roots back to the continent or you know,

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Speaker 4: came directly from the continent. And now we're seeing guys

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Speaker 4: like Command, my Ludge and so on coming straight out

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Speaker 4: of you know, the academies in Africa, but also go back.

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Speaker 4: I think we also need to focus on the grassroots

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Speaker 4: side of things, on programs that have proven themselves, programs

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Speaker 4: that you know, continuously keep on, you know, bringing on players,

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Speaker 4: but also you know, developing not just the players, but

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Speaker 4: the coaches, the referee and so on. And I always

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Speaker 4: talk about I'm gonna does is a great example with

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Speaker 4: CED Academy. As long as you know, I've been back

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Speaker 4: in the continent, Seed Academy has existed, and Seed Academy

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Speaker 4: has given so much to the game of basketball from

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Speaker 4: the continent. How many players came out of there, how

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Speaker 4: many players are playing in Europe and so on. Those

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Speaker 4: type of program we need to protect and enhance and

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Speaker 4: also make some type of connection with you know, the

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Speaker 4: US and Europe, because no matter what, we have to

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Speaker 4: admit that, you know, the game is more advanced in

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Speaker 4: those places, and there's a lot of coaches that have

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Speaker 4: so much information that they can you know, share and develop.

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Speaker 4: And as far as I think, as far as B. A. L.

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Speaker 4: I think we all see the vision, you know, there's

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Speaker 4: great leadership within the B A L. I happen to

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Speaker 4: be a part of it, and I see it every day,

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Speaker 4: and I see that, you know the direction and what

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Speaker 4: we're trying to accomplish as a league, And as Claire said,

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Speaker 4: it's it's really amazing when you look at the BA

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Speaker 4: L of how many opportunities it's creating the panel earlier

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Speaker 4: people were asking questions on how to get involved and

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Speaker 4: the way I see. I mean, obviously the NBA, it's

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Speaker 4: a global and it's been going on for years, but

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Speaker 4: when we look at BA L in the continent, and

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Speaker 4: it's not just basketball, there's so much that comes with it.

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Speaker 4: Even us sitting up here because of B A L.

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Speaker 4: There's so much we're talking about that will motivate others.

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Speaker 4: And we're talking positively consistently about the continent and we're

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Speaker 4: creating jobs. But we're also connecting it with you know,

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Speaker 4: with the culture. We're connecting it with the youth and

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Speaker 4: so on. How can we pull more people in, not

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Speaker 4: just the fans, but how can we create more jobs

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Speaker 4: and so on? So I think the direction is clear.

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Speaker 4: You know, everybody, everybody has an opinion, but I really

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Speaker 4: got to trust on the leadership to where it was

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Speaker 4: and where it is now and where it's gone.

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Speaker 1: Claire, I want to talk about that as well. Right,

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Speaker 1: infrastructure is important. It's funny I was watching the game

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Speaker 1: on Sunday and I'm looking at an arena.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, this is a stale art arena.

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Speaker 1: There's intentionality, the fans are engaged, but this is bigger

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Speaker 1: than basketball, right, and not only are people visiting Rwanda,

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Speaker 1: the people are investing in Rwanda. I know you've been

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Speaker 1: a part of that process long before the BA l

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Speaker 1: but talk about the intentionality to combine those two things

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Speaker 1: to say, yes, this is basketball, but no, this is

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Speaker 1: a place where you can come and invest and potentially

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Speaker 1: see growth here.

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Speaker 5: Thank you.

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Speaker 6: Maybe before I come to that, your question about what

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Speaker 6: does success look like? And I think we've talked about jobs,

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Speaker 6: We talked about economic impact. We think, you know, BA

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Speaker 6: will contribute five point four billion dollars in ten years.

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Speaker 6: We think jobs will come to six fifty thousand.

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Speaker 3: It is.

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Speaker 6: But my real measure of success that I think about

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Speaker 6: is I remember a few weeks ago, I went to

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Speaker 6: hike in Kenya in a place called Gong Hills, and

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Speaker 6: while there, I picked a conversation with a stranger and

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Speaker 6: soon or later I told this person that I worked.

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Speaker 5: For the NBA.

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Speaker 6: And then she called her son quickly and said, this

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Speaker 6: lady works for the NBA. And then the son says, oh,

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Speaker 6: my god, you work with the NBA National Basketball Association.

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Speaker 6: I said yes, and then he said, have you met

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Speaker 6: Lebron James? Can you connect me to Lebron James. While

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Speaker 6: my answer was not to both questions. My measure of

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Speaker 6: success is hiking somewhere in China ten years from now,

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Speaker 6: fifteen years from now. And I told somebody about my

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Speaker 6: job in NBA, and they say, oh, have you met

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Speaker 6: Node Happy Mana? Have you met Washira from Nairobi? Have

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Speaker 6: you met Haruna from Dakara? And they say, And I

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Speaker 6: hope then I can say yes to both.

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Speaker 3: Answers and earners. What's up? Look?

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Speaker 6: Yes, I can connect you to Haruna too, because in

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Speaker 6: China they're watching BAL and they're following every season of BL.

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Speaker 6: So that is my measure of success many years from now.

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Speaker 6: But maybe back to your question around intentionality, I think

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Speaker 6: one of the reasons that the BAL partnered with Rwanda

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Speaker 6: at the very beginning was because we found that we

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Speaker 6: had a meeting of minds in how we were intentional

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Speaker 6: about bringing something new to African fans. We had a

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Speaker 6: vision as BA L to start a league, but to

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Speaker 6: do that, we needed our countries to invest, even investors

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Speaker 6: to invest in infrastructure in arenas, but also everything around basketball,

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Speaker 6: the teams, the federation it is in. But we also

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Speaker 6: knew that by coming to the market with NBA BA

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Speaker 6: L was a big incentive for countries that had similar

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Speaker 6: minds to invest in it because they trusted NBA with

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Speaker 6: the truck record that NBA had done and they would

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Speaker 6: trust what NBO was going to do with the BL

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Speaker 6: as well. And so you know a few years down

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Speaker 6: the road when you look at Randa for example, I mean, yes,

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Speaker 6: I saw from the beginning when BL came, when thinking

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Speaker 6: about what are we going to do with bl and

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Speaker 6: if you look at it today, not only has Randa

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Speaker 6: hosted five seasons, the economic impact has been great.

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Speaker 5: I think we've talked about that.

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Speaker 6: But one thing that I see a big improvement is

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Speaker 6: that we hardly saw any competition from the federation too,

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Speaker 6: is very low. But when you look at the teams

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Speaker 6: in the federation, all of them investing one of the

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Speaker 6: team's Tigers is you know, getting investment from the pension

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Speaker 6: fund and I saw Louise from the pension fund. Here

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Speaker 6: they're investing in one of the teams Tigers. I know

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Speaker 6: Berd is investing in their patriots, you know, reg among

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Speaker 6: other teams are also getting in investments from the local

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Speaker 6: companies in Wonder, whether it's development banks or pension funds,

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Speaker 6: and all of that is helping the level of competition

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Speaker 6: at the local.

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Speaker 5: Level go up.

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Speaker 6: And when I meet the Tigers team, they're like, did

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Speaker 6: you see that? Now we've come to number two from

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Speaker 6: numbers you know, close to ten. And they're like, wait,

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Speaker 6: next year we're going to come to bal That is

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Speaker 6: the level of competition we're seeing not just in Wonder

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Speaker 6: but in federations across the countries where we play. And

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Speaker 6: whether it's Senegal or Morocco ag to render the level

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Speaker 6: of player I think has been incentivized, among others by

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Speaker 6: the bal being there. But we also know that in

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Speaker 6: addition to building the talent or building this ecosystem, infrastructure

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Speaker 6: is very key. And today in Africa, can you believe

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Speaker 6: that there are only five arenas in the whole of Africa,

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Speaker 6: in the fifty four countries of Africa that are ready

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Speaker 6: to receive an NBA or BA l GAM. Can you

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Speaker 6: imagine that just five out of the fifty four countries.

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Speaker 6: But the many others that could just do with some

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Speaker 6: work and you know I renovations, improvements, refurbishments that could

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Speaker 6: bring the number much higher. The good news is that

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Speaker 6: when we speak to heads of state, when we speak

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Speaker 6: to the ministers of sports, when we speak to investors,

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Speaker 6: more and more of them as seeing that investing in

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Speaker 6: infrastructure and investing in sports is actually a.

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Speaker 5: Good business for them.

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Speaker 6: And I believe that in the next few years we're

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Speaker 6: going to see more arenas. I know, Beninis, you know,

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Speaker 6: building one, Legosi is building one, and goal as renovating one,

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Speaker 6: and we're going to see many of those coming up

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Speaker 6: across the continent and This is how we're going to

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Speaker 6: see the economic impact and the talent impact grow even

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Speaker 6: much more than we've seen today.

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Speaker 2: Sure as well talking about investing in real estate, Loo,

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Speaker 2: I know you you're having real estate investor. We have a

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Speaker 2: mutual friend, David Growth. So what is your thoughts as

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Speaker 2: far as investment on the continent and what are you

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Speaker 2: currently involved in?

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Speaker 3: What's your thoughts on real estate? Yeah, this turned real quick.

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Speaker 4: You know, I think right now it's the right time

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Speaker 4: to really invest in the continent. I know that as

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Speaker 4: people who invested in a past, but there's a lot

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Speaker 4: of great opportunities. The most important thing that I've learned

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Speaker 4: is understanding in in uh, in my situation that the

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Speaker 4: rules are completely different.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 4: At the end of the day, there's an you know,

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Speaker 4: there's an agenda and a perspective that's made on the

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Speaker 4: continent that keeps a lot of people shy and keep

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Speaker 4: a lot of people away. But you know, once you

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Speaker 4: come into the continent and you understand the impact of

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Speaker 4: investment and the return of investment, your mind changes quickly.

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Speaker 4: And I think the most important thing uh. And we

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Speaker 4: talked about it earlier. Within within each country in Africa,

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Speaker 4: the rules are different, and the most important thing are

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Speaker 4: you know, the people that you work with and the

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Speaker 4: individuals that you surround yourself with to really guide you.

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Speaker 4: I always give an example of you know, there's an

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Speaker 4: investment that I made in New York, and you know,

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Speaker 4: everyone talks about corruption and the continent and so on,

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Speaker 4: and I remember in my investment in New York, all

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Speaker 4: I had to do was to finish the project. There

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Speaker 4: was an electricity line that needed to you know, instead

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Speaker 4: of being up and needed to go on the ground.

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Speaker 4: And there's an electricity company that's supposed to take care

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Speaker 4: of it. And six months, eight months, I can't get

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Speaker 4: a hold of them or their schedule is is busy.

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Speaker 4: It took one visit to the mayor's office, a couple

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Speaker 4: of pictures on social media and so on.

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Speaker 3: And the next day they were there.

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Speaker 4: But that's not called corruption because you know, I'm going

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Speaker 4: through a company. In the continent, you do the same

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Speaker 4: thing where you go through one individual that you gotta

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Speaker 4: take care of, but you know, so it's similar rules

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Speaker 4: is just understanding. But in the continent there's you know,

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Speaker 4: amazing opportunities. And I think earlier with the earlier podcast,

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Speaker 4: what we really I mean not podcasts, but when we

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Speaker 4: were up here in the panel, I spoke about really

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Speaker 4: the continent focusing on having similar rules that makes it

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Speaker 4: easier to keep you know, growing the business and involving

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Speaker 4: other people, you know, ministries coming together and implementing rules

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Speaker 4: that really benefits you know, both sides or different countries.

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Speaker 4: Because right now, if I wanted to invest in Rwanda,

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Speaker 4: it's safer to invest in Rwanda. I could understand the rules.

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Speaker 4: I have people that can take me through it. But

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Speaker 4: I'll keep on coming back to Rwanda because of that.

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Speaker 4: And there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're trying

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Speaker 4: to bring the continent together, it makes a lot of

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Speaker 4: sense if you know the implementation are the same within

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Speaker 4: South Todain or Rwanda for example. So when I go

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Speaker 4: back over there, I know the rules and how to

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Speaker 4: follow it, and I think that's kind of keeping the continent,

439
00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,800
Speaker 4: you know, help back in terms of growth. And another

440
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 4: thing too that I always like to, you know, bring

441
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,359
Speaker 4: up when we speak about the continent, we always speak

442
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:50,000
Speaker 4: as one continent, you know, and as soon as you

443
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:53,240
Speaker 4: start you know, thinking about implementing improvement or what you

444
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 4: want to do, it goes, it goes into regions you

445
00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 4: start hearing Francophone and East Africa, you know, and then

446
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 4: when you get there, then it's it goes into different

447
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 4: states or cities, and then from there it goes into

448
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,080
Speaker 4: villages and towns, and then it's clan. It just keeps

449
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,440
Speaker 4: on going, you know, and and it makes it that

450
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:19,119
Speaker 4: kind of mindset. It makes it so difficult to grow

451
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,600
Speaker 4: all together at once. And that's why you see, you know,

452
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,280
Speaker 4: right now, you see you know, certain countries leading and

453
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,359
Speaker 4: so on. And you know, if you take America for example,

454
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,880
Speaker 4: you know, yes it's a big countries, you know, United States,

455
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 4: but it's similar from state to state. You can, you know,

456
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,119
Speaker 4: you can grow any business and kind of you know,

457
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 4: keep on repeating it. For example, if you own Starbucks

458
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,840
Speaker 4: in I don't know, in New Jersey's probably the same

459
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 4: rules to buy a land and implement those rules. It's

460
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:54,320
Speaker 4: not the same in the continent. And you know, that's

461
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,639
Speaker 4: something we need to focus on. But the opportunity in

462
00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 4: terms of you know, investing and doing the right way.

463
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,439
Speaker 4: The satisfaction, well, for me anyway, the satisfaction is a

464
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,440
Speaker 4: lot more than just you know, what you get back

465
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:12,320
Speaker 4: in terms of you know, earning or a successful business.

466
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,560
Speaker 4: We talked about the opportunities, the jobs it creates and

467
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,199
Speaker 4: so on. And one thing about the continent is you

468
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 4: have to be creative in whatever you're doing to be

469
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,879
Speaker 4: able to reach out as far as you can. You

470
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,560
Speaker 4: can't be one dimensional and just focus on one thing.

471
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:30,919
Speaker 4: You got to, you know, try to bring everybody along

472
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:31,240
Speaker 4: with you.

473
00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,439
Speaker 1: Claire, you brought up something earlier. You said your husband

474
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 1: was up at three in the morning watching the NBA.

475
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,480
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you something that was me last night.

476
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,439
Speaker 1: It'll probably be met tonight. New York is playing tonight,

477
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: but it got me to thinking about meteorites and revenue

478
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 1: streams and so for the b AL, is there a nickname?

479
00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 1: Is it a traditional model where it's it's media rights,

480
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:05,040
Speaker 1: it's merchandising, it's tourism. How is it structured here? And

481
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 1: what's the plan for scalability for that?

482
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:08,880
Speaker 5: Thank you?

483
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,879
Speaker 6: So Mainly four ways that leagues like ours can monetize,

484
00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 6: and I think the more common one for African for

485
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 6: our league is sponsorship and marketing partnerships and that's where

486
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 6: you see some of the partnerships. We have your service

487
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:26,720
Speaker 6: now visit rund African Zimbak and run there. So yes,

488
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,879
Speaker 6: sponsorship and marketing rights and using our platform that we

489
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 6: give to market products and services. We have overall NBAS

490
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:40,199
Speaker 6: over one billion funds. Within Africa we have millions. We

491
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,159
Speaker 6: have one point two you know impression billion impressions in

492
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 6: the last season. And when we look at our social

493
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,760
Speaker 6: media platforms, we have a big reach. So that which

494
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 6: allows you know, partners like ours to really access the

495
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 6: funds that we have and that's how we monitorze one way.

496
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,439
Speaker 6: The other one is merchandise and good news is that

497
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:02,040
Speaker 6: we just opened and it commas bottom. It's called balstore

498
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:06,360
Speaker 6: dot NBA dot com where you can buy merchandise from

499
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:10,359
Speaker 6: anywhere using our e commas platform. Now we know that

500
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,760
Speaker 6: the market, not just in Africa, but also especially the

501
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,199
Speaker 6: African diaspora all over the world has been looking to

502
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 6: own something with BL whenever they interact with it. We

503
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 6: saw pictures last year of season four with a family

504
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,320
Speaker 6: in Brazil walking around with BA l and we wondered

505
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,440
Speaker 6: where they got the BL merchandise. You know, we've seen

506
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 6: pictures in his row where people crossing security and they're

507
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:35,040
Speaker 6: wearing BAL and those anecdotes showed us that there's really

508
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:38,640
Speaker 6: appetite for consuming BLB on the African market, but also

509
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 6: with especially the African diaspora all over the world, who

510
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,080
Speaker 6: are really big. In fact, one of the statistics that

511
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,520
Speaker 6: you know, a colleago man shared with me is, you know,

512
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 6: if you take out China and India, the African despera

513
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,399
Speaker 6: is the third country in terms of population globally. So

514
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,159
Speaker 6: interacting with that market as part of what we have

515
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 6: to offer as bl continues to be important for us.

516
00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 5: The third one is ticketing. You know, when you come

517
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 5: to watch gems.

518
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:02,679
Speaker 6: Every year we see ticketing revenues go up because more

519
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,119
Speaker 6: and more funds are coming to watch your games and

520
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:07,080
Speaker 6: paying to watch your games, and that has been really

521
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 6: important as well. Now the media market obviously as well,

522
00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,600
Speaker 6: is a big part of sports leagues. It's a growing

523
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 6: aspect in Africa, whether it's PayTV, it's still very limited

524
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,600
Speaker 6: in terms of the coverage free to air. Many of

525
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 6: the free to air broadcasters are national and therefore kind

526
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 6: of free access in the countries where they serve. But

527
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 6: we see that changing, and I think one when you

528
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,040
Speaker 6: say what does the future look like, one of the

529
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 6: areas we see the future, you know changing, is very

530
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 6: much around what lo w All talked about, which is

531
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 6: integrating markets in Africa. I think the more integrated markets are,

532
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:46,760
Speaker 6: the more integrated services are, The more integrated we can be,

533
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 6: the more you can actually use platforms to you know,

534
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,360
Speaker 6: provide whether it's streaming or broadcasting to markets across the continent.

535
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 6: Now people like to say we need to integrate Africa more,

536
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:58,440
Speaker 6: and we really do need to. We've talked about the

537
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,520
Speaker 6: African Continent to Free Trade Area. It's a big aspirationion

538
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 6: to really break down all these barriers so we can

539
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 6: trade as one market. But a lot has to be

540
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:07,240
Speaker 6: done for that to happen, and I think we all

541
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 6: touched on a couple of those. How do you rejust

542
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:11,680
Speaker 6: a business in Randa and be able to give your

543
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 6: services across the fifty four countries. That's not happening yet today.

544
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 6: How do you get a license to broadcasts in one

545
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,480
Speaker 6: country and broadcast in many countries so you can actually

546
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 6: access a much bigger market on the continent.

547
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 5: Those kinds of things.

548
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:26,040
Speaker 6: Need to be solved so that we can actually provide

549
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 6: services across the continent. The good news, I think, especially

550
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:31,240
Speaker 6: for media rites, is what we see in some of

551
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:33,280
Speaker 6: what they tell us are doing. If you give an

552
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 6: example of Empty and three hundred million subscribers across the continent,

553
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,120
Speaker 6: I know that they're thinking about using that platform that

554
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 6: already is connected by subscription all over the continent to

555
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,840
Speaker 6: provide content, such as content that we would be interested in.

556
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 6: So I think that's going to change, and I think

557
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 6: we're going to see more access to media, more media integration,

558
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:53,560
Speaker 6: and media contributing a lot more than you're seeing today.

559
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:55,240
Speaker 5: And for me, the future is bright.

560
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:02,440
Speaker 3: Claire.

561
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 2: Just to piggyback on that, you talked about the challenges

562
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 2: as far as only having five arenas in Content and Africa,

563
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 2: and obviously that makes it difficult to expand. But when

564
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 2: you're looking at expanding to either having different teams or

565
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 2: just focus in a different area, what are some of

566
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,520
Speaker 2: the top areas on the continent that you guys have

567
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:23,959
Speaker 2: on your board as far as you want to, you know,

568
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 2: have more expansion.

569
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,320
Speaker 6: In Well, we would like to be in all the

570
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 6: countries in Africa if we could, but today we're playing

571
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,280
Speaker 6: four countries, but we have twelve teams that play, so

572
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 6: ideally in those twelve, you know, those twelve teams should

573
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 6: be representing countries that we have that there's interest in

574
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 6: playing in playing in but beyond the twelve, even before

575
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 6: we get the qualifiers for the twelve, we have the

576
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 6: broad to b a L, a lot more countries actually participate.

577
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,720
Speaker 6: So actually countries that are participating in the wider community

578
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:56,840
Speaker 6: that BL brings together is more than you know, four

579
00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:57,560
Speaker 6: countries at us.

580
00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:58,960
Speaker 5: It's more than twelve teams at play.

581
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:00,840
Speaker 6: It's a lot more, you know, if you come from

582
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 6: the qualification road to b L until the final competitions.

583
00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 6: And so our goal is to work with as many

584
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 6: countries as possible that wish to be part of this story,

585
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 6: and they're there every day we get as I said,

586
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 6: you know, I know Nigeria is building an arena. Benin

587
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 6: is building an arena. You know, we went Morocco for

588
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 6: the first time. After Egypt. You know, we are going

589
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:22,960
Speaker 6: South Africa, the many countries. Kenya for example, we have

590
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 6: an office in Kenya, and then Arab City Thunders came,

591
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 6: you know, for the first time representing Kenya in the

592
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:32,880
Speaker 6: bal And so can Uganda had a team City Oilers

593
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 6: that has been coming for the last seasons. So there's

594
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 6: potential in a lot more countries. I think the question

595
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,000
Speaker 6: is how do we work with investors, how do we

596
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 6: work with the governments to put in place that environment

597
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,920
Speaker 6: of infrastructure that could allow this to happen. The good

598
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,760
Speaker 6: news is that every year, as we grow and we

599
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 6: see the impact of BAL, we get more interests, including

600
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:56,920
Speaker 6: from development financial institutions like Africsen Bank FDB. We've seen

601
00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,400
Speaker 6: investors come to us and say what does it take

602
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:00,480
Speaker 6: to bild an area?

603
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,680
Speaker 5: Who do build an arena for? And I think that's

604
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:05,240
Speaker 5: going to change. I really think that over.

605
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,360
Speaker 6: The next five years you're going to see a lot

606
00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:10,479
Speaker 6: more standardized arenas than you've seen today, and that's going

607
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:12,560
Speaker 6: to allow us to plan as many countries as we could.

608
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,240
Speaker 6: Our goal is to have many countries come to be

609
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:16,880
Speaker 6: part of the BAL experience.

610
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:22,080
Speaker 3: Louell.

611
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:26,200
Speaker 1: A lot of times we see players retire and they

612
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,360
Speaker 1: struggle to find their purpose after they've left playing the game.

613
00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 3: You haven't quite had that issue.

614
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,000
Speaker 1: Rachad talked about your investment portfolio in a sense and

615
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:37,840
Speaker 1: how you've been doing with that and obviously coming back

616
00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:40,240
Speaker 1: here and taking over the Sudan program.

617
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 3: I wonder how influential it is amongst.

618
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 1: Your peers, right the guys that you used to play

619
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 1: with the colleagues because not only were they put players,

620
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 1: but they could potentially be investors going forward. How influential

621
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:56,600
Speaker 1: have you been in inspiring them? And are they curious

622
00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:00,120
Speaker 1: about what's happening here in bal I know Royality, he

623
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 1: is coaching with you. I've seen you come here with

624
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 1: jo Keem a few times. How's that been now? A

625
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:09,720
Speaker 1: great question? I think, first of all, I hope you

626
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,840
Speaker 1: know that I am inspiring them. I've been inspired by

627
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,360
Speaker 1: you know, people before me and so on. I think

628
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 1: for me, the continent is in a different place than

629
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,560
Speaker 1: it was in the past. Part of it could be

630
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:27,840
Speaker 1: just how connected the world is now with you know,

631
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,760
Speaker 1: the Internet and so on and social media, and I

632
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:35,560
Speaker 1: think people are getting positive stories and putting positive stories

633
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 1: out there. I think, you know, in the past, there's

634
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: been like I said before, there's this, you know, the

635
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 1: image and understanding of the continent hasn't been well represented

636
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:48,920
Speaker 1: as it is now. For me, it was a lot

637
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:50,080
Speaker 1: easier to continue.

638
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 4: You know, a lot of people see after I retired

639
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 4: taking on the national team, but throughout my whole career

640
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,840
Speaker 4: I was really focused on you know, basketball camps and

641
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,800
Speaker 4: you know, growing the game and the continent, going back,

642
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,839
Speaker 4: coming back and spending time and so on. So I

643
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 4: knew even before I retired that I was going to

644
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 4: be involved a lot more. To be honest, I wasn't.

645
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,320
Speaker 4: I wasn't planning to be the president of basketball Federation

646
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:20,120
Speaker 4: in South Sudan.

647
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:21,560
Speaker 3: It's just the timing of it.

648
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,640
Speaker 4: Just to give you a quick story. The way I

649
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:28,400
Speaker 4: looked at it was if I became the president of

650
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,800
Speaker 4: South Sudan Basketball Federation, I was just going to focus

651
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:36,400
Speaker 4: on the basketball team. But that's not the case. You know,

652
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:40,239
Speaker 4: as a president of basketball Federation in South Sudan, I

653
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:44,560
Speaker 4: have to focus on every state in South Sudan. We're

654
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 4: the youngest nation in the world. We don't have a

655
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 4: single basketball indoor court as of today. You know, all

656
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:57,000
Speaker 4: the success that we've had in three years, we've never

657
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:58,200
Speaker 4: practiced at home.

658
00:34:59,320 --> 00:34:59,520
Speaker 3: You know.

659
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:03,920
Speaker 4: We we were lucky, Well, we're fortunate and thanks to Rwanda,

660
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,319
Speaker 4: we spend most of our time here preparing before we

661
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:10,719
Speaker 4: go anywhere to play because of the facilities that they have. So,

662
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,520
Speaker 4: like class said earlier, only five countries that have that

663
00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:18,239
Speaker 4: kind of facility. You know, it discourages a lot of

664
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:20,759
Speaker 4: people from coming back and those are the things that

665
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:23,640
Speaker 4: we have to change. I think, like you said, Royale

666
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,040
Speaker 4: IV and so on. And as you see now in

667
00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:28,720
Speaker 4: the BAO, a lot more guy, a lot more players

668
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 4: are coming back and want to be in a continent.

669
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 4: And besides the basketball game and earlier some people talk

670
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:38,960
Speaker 4: about how good the court is and so on. So

671
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:43,240
Speaker 4: those are positive images that we're putting out and talking about.

672
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:46,280
Speaker 4: But most important is when they come to the continent,

673
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,280
Speaker 4: it completely changed them. It changes their mindset, it changes,

674
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:53,480
Speaker 4: you know, what it is. And that's what I mean

675
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 4: earlier by we're doing more than just the game, you know,

676
00:35:57,680 --> 00:35:59,480
Speaker 4: and a lot more people want to be a part

677
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:01,440
Speaker 4: of it. And you know, as you ask, I have

678
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:05,000
Speaker 4: so many players, ex teammates and so on that want

679
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:06,239
Speaker 4: to be a part of b A L.

680
00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:06,799
Speaker 3: You know.

681
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:10,560
Speaker 4: And you got guys like you know, Derek Rose going

682
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,560
Speaker 4: back to going you know, coming to the content and

683
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:16,319
Speaker 4: going to Senegal, putting the camp together, going to see

684
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:21,560
Speaker 4: the academy. All that plays a role into everybody coming back.

685
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:25,480
Speaker 4: So we're playing a big part besides just basketball, of

686
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,880
Speaker 4: promoting the continent in the right way. And you know,

687
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:30,920
Speaker 4: I'm happy to be a part of it, and I

688
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 4: know that the growth is going to keep on going,

689
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,439
Speaker 4: you know, to start from where we started and where

690
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:39,120
Speaker 4: we are today. He speaks for itself, and Claid just

691
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,680
Speaker 4: mentioned their own division and where it's going. And no

692
00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:46,320
Speaker 4: matter what we do, you know, this is going to

693
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:48,719
Speaker 4: keep on growing. It's just how it It's just how

694
00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:51,120
Speaker 4: it is with what we're trying to put around and

695
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,719
Speaker 4: what we're trying to implement. Every year that we come back,

696
00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,800
Speaker 4: we see more improvement. The game is getting better. People

697
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 4: understand the game better, there's more things to do, people

698
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,960
Speaker 4: are taking advantage of being here and learning and so on.

699
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:08,239
Speaker 4: So it's just going to keep on getting better. And

700
00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:11,400
Speaker 4: you know, we don't have to do much in convincing people.

701
00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:12,760
Speaker 4: I think people will see.

702
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:17,359
Speaker 6: I must say, lou All that after the Olympics, many

703
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:20,040
Speaker 6: many times I meet people that say, oh, you know

704
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 6: you're up for NBA b al, congratulations for the great

705
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 6: work you did for Sufudan, and I just politely say

706
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 6: thank you.

707
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,719
Speaker 3: I appreciate, thank you.

708
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,120
Speaker 2: Claire. What role is technology playing in the Bao as

709
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,640
Speaker 2: far as engaging young people, whether there's a social media

710
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:42,200
Speaker 2: strategy where there's ai you know, a lot of sports

711
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,040
Speaker 2: now they're talking about virtual reality, so people can actually

712
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 2: get an in person experience even if they're not physically there. So,

713
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:52,080
Speaker 2: from just a holistic standpoint, what're role is tech playing in.

714
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:53,800
Speaker 5: The league very important.

715
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 6: We always say less than one percent of our fans

716
00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:59,400
Speaker 6: we'll ever go to watch a live game, and this

717
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,120
Speaker 6: is not just NB as well. Ninety nine percent of

718
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:05,560
Speaker 6: them will watch us through a platform, and that platform

719
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:09,520
Speaker 6: is very much enabled by technology, whether it's streaming, it's

720
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:13,120
Speaker 6: an app, whether it's you know, enhancing your experience in

721
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:19,160
Speaker 6: you know, broadcaster, whether it's TV or your laptop, your iPad,

722
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:22,400
Speaker 6: wherever you watch your phone, it's very much enabled by technology.

723
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,600
Speaker 6: And so because of that, we invest very much in

724
00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:27,320
Speaker 6: enhancing the experience.

725
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 5: Using technology of our games.

726
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:32,240
Speaker 6: But also this is also why as we think about

727
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,920
Speaker 6: the wider you know, touch points beyond you know, viewing

728
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,080
Speaker 6: games or watching games, we also know that solutions and

729
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:43,280
Speaker 6: experiences of different types can actually make the experience much better.

730
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 6: And this is why we invested in the triple double

731
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,160
Speaker 6: Accelerator that you had about earlier, because we knew that

732
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 6: if you're going to enhance the experience of our fun

733
00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:55,719
Speaker 6: you know, interacting with our games technology and continuously making

734
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,920
Speaker 6: that better, enhancing how you buy a ticket, how you

735
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,520
Speaker 6: get notifications of games.

736
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:03,680
Speaker 5: How you you know, you know, how.

737
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:07,000
Speaker 6: You scout, you know talent across the continent, you know merchandise.

738
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:08,400
Speaker 5: I think we see examples of marchanders.

739
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:11,239
Speaker 6: There are very many aspects that can allows, you know,

740
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 6: technology innovation to make it easier for fans to experience

741
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,319
Speaker 6: the game of basketball or sports in general. And this

742
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,800
Speaker 6: is why again technology remains something that is a focused area.

743
00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 6: We always talk about sports, tech, basketball and technology. We

744
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,640
Speaker 6: brought in the triput double, and I think that's always

745
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,920
Speaker 6: going to be important because again, one way to enhance

746
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:34,399
Speaker 6: the experience of our fund is using technology, including new

747
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 6: tools such as atficial Intelligence. We know a number of

748
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,880
Speaker 6: teams are using adficial intelligence to really get data, analyze data,

749
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:44,040
Speaker 6: and predict some of the performances of their teams and

750
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:46,759
Speaker 6: talent on court. So all these is extremely important and

751
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:51,640
Speaker 6: technology remains a very close interactor with sports and basketball

752
00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:52,240
Speaker 6: in particular.

753
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:54,759
Speaker 3: It'spent five years.

754
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:57,440
Speaker 1: I wonder how you see the next five years for

755
00:39:57,480 --> 00:39:59,879
Speaker 1: the BA l and the partnership with the NBA.

756
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:00,480
Speaker 3: Interesting.

757
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:05,840
Speaker 1: I remember watching a young Luca Dancers playing against OKC

758
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:10,040
Speaker 1: because they went there for preseason. Is there a vision

759
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:12,880
Speaker 1: to have that kind of cross broader situation where you

760
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,479
Speaker 1: got teams going to play in the States or maybe

761
00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:18,200
Speaker 1: playing in the Euroleagues or in China so that more

762
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:20,239
Speaker 1: odds can see the talent and see the growth of

763
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:23,160
Speaker 1: this league, or teams come to Africa, teams coming to

764
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 1: Africa maybe even better.

765
00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:26,719
Speaker 5: We don't rule that out.

766
00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:29,080
Speaker 6: I mean, I think you had NBAS exploring a league

767
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:32,279
Speaker 6: in Europe. Of course it's NBA. Now we have a

768
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:35,440
Speaker 6: legal radio operating five years in Africa, and yes, we

769
00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:38,400
Speaker 6: look forward to a future when we can have these

770
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 6: regional competitions. It's not happening yet, but we don't rule

771
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:43,440
Speaker 6: out that in the future, and we hope that we

772
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,280
Speaker 6: can actually give that experience across the different parts.

773
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:46,520
Speaker 5: Of the world.

774
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:50,839
Speaker 2: So we got to talk about that Olympic situation. So

775
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 2: one of almost one of the greatest upsets in the

776
00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:57,960
Speaker 2: history of sports, not just basketball. You got, in my opinion,

777
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,880
Speaker 2: that's arguably the greatest team ever put together. When you

778
00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:05,840
Speaker 2: have Lebron, you got Steph Curry, you got Kevin Durant,

779
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:10,879
Speaker 2: and man, you guys took him to the wire. How

780
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:13,239
Speaker 2: was that moment for you? How was that moment for

781
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 2: your country? How was that moment for for you know,

782
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:19,680
Speaker 2: the whole entire region, the whole entire continent.

783
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:26,840
Speaker 4: Now it was it was amazing, you know, honestly to

784
00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:30,759
Speaker 4: to play against you know, all these guys. First of all,

785
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:34,000
Speaker 4: it's a dream for our players to play against, you know,

786
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:38,680
Speaker 4: their heroes, their superstars and so on. And you know,

787
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:42,799
Speaker 4: having Lebron, Steph and Durant, like you said, it made

788
00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:45,319
Speaker 4: that team arguably one of the best teams you know,

789
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:49,840
Speaker 4: ever put together. I think for us, and you know,

790
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:53,759
Speaker 4: when I look back at it, it became more than

791
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:58,400
Speaker 4: a game. You know, it started with developing the team

792
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:02,560
Speaker 4: and putting the team together to compete, you know, and

793
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:07,120
Speaker 4: then we realize that if you look at the Olympics,

794
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,279
Speaker 4: only one African team makes it as of now, and

795
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,439
Speaker 4: you know, I said that needs to change. I think

796
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,279
Speaker 4: it will change eventually. As you know, the teams are

797
00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:19,719
Speaker 4: getting better. If you look at the World Cup, it's

798
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,560
Speaker 4: five teams that make it out of fifty four country

799
00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:28,000
Speaker 4: so it's whoever goes is representing the whole continent, not

800
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:31,560
Speaker 4: just the country. And for us, it's such a young

801
00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:36,319
Speaker 4: program that we put together and all these guys can play,

802
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,680
Speaker 4: but they just never had the opportunity. And the amazing

803
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:42,200
Speaker 4: thing is, before I talk about the game, if we

804
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:45,839
Speaker 4: go back three years before that game, we took a

805
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:49,960
Speaker 4: team to Kenya when we first you know, put the

806
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 4: federation together. We took a team to Kenya and not

807
00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:55,960
Speaker 4: a single person in that team had you know, a

808
00:42:56,080 --> 00:43:01,160
Speaker 4: job or playing professionally. That's three years removed from you know,

809
00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:06,799
Speaker 4: playing against the US and almost winning. But if you

810
00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:08,960
Speaker 4: if you look back, and I don't want to, you know,

811
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:12,400
Speaker 4: consistently bring that back, but if you look back at

812
00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:16,680
Speaker 4: what took place that made that game so significant, it

813
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:20,200
Speaker 4: was almost I look at it as like the crossover

814
00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:24,560
Speaker 4: from what we've been hearing about the continent and what

815
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,120
Speaker 4: people have been thinking, and it really came at a

816
00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,200
Speaker 4: time where how how do we use this game to

817
00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:35,120
Speaker 4: change people's mindset? And I don't want to go into it,

818
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,880
Speaker 4: but you know, certain individuals were speaking, you know, about

819
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:41,879
Speaker 4: the South Sudan team, but speaking about Africa in such

820
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:46,120
Speaker 4: a you know, a negative way. But it showed, you know,

821
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:52,520
Speaker 4: it showed the lack of connection. But also you know,

822
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:55,800
Speaker 4: just knowing what the continent or how far the continent

823
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:57,279
Speaker 4: has come if you go back to some of the

824
00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:01,520
Speaker 4: things they were saying, I never I didn't respond, but

825
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:03,960
Speaker 4: I took it as an opportunity. I didn't know that

826
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:07,160
Speaker 4: we would come close to winning that game, or you know,

827
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:10,200
Speaker 4: I'm gonna do knows we won that game because there

828
00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:13,920
Speaker 4: was a foul at the end, but you know, we're.

829
00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:14,759
Speaker 3: Not going to get into that.

830
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:20,640
Speaker 4: But you know, the way everything happened, I think we

831
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:23,640
Speaker 4: used it as an opportunity to kind of let everybody

832
00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 4: know that one you know, Africa is not what you've

833
00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 4: been you know, told, or what you've been seeing. This

834
00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:33,680
Speaker 4: is like the turnaround for you to use your social media,

835
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:37,480
Speaker 4: use your network, learn more about the continent, because some

836
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:40,040
Speaker 4: of these guys were speaking about, you know, not having

837
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:44,080
Speaker 4: shoes and so on, which is so stupid, but you know,

838
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,200
Speaker 4: and and also you know, to come that close to

839
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,920
Speaker 4: winning that game. I remember in the locker room we

840
00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:56,400
Speaker 4: spoke about the Dream Team with Michael Jordan when they

841
00:44:56,440 --> 00:45:01,720
Speaker 4: played Angola, and you know those tapes of that game,

842
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:05,919
Speaker 4: if you look back of you know, obviously the Dream

843
00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:09,040
Speaker 4: Team was a dream the Dream Team, they were destroying everyone.

844
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:13,160
Speaker 4: But if you go back and really listen to the

845
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:17,160
Speaker 4: US against Angola, it was just about, you know, an

846
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:21,239
Speaker 4: African team who barely practiced. They those things are not

847
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:23,440
Speaker 4: good for us in the continent, and those are the

848
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:26,480
Speaker 4: things that we're trying to change. As much as you know,

849
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:29,680
Speaker 4: a lot of people don't speak about it or play

850
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:33,160
Speaker 4: it off. I think Africans are just tired of that image.

851
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:36,560
Speaker 4: And I think when we played the US and we

852
00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:41,360
Speaker 4: almost want people realize that times have changed. And also

853
00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:45,080
Speaker 4: just for the basketball world, they realize that it's not

854
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:48,680
Speaker 4: just about you know, Luar dang or Hakeem or Manute

855
00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:52,000
Speaker 4: or embiid Uh. You know, there's a lot of talent

856
00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:55,800
Speaker 4: in the continent and they're catching up because it's been about

857
00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:58,920
Speaker 4: Europe catching up, but Africa's catching up. So I'm just

858
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,640
Speaker 4: glad that we had the opportunity to use that game

859
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:03,560
Speaker 4: to promote the whole content.

860
00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:10,160
Speaker 3: And you know, we've arrived. You have arrived.

861
00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:14,080
Speaker 1: Indeed, my final question is you clear and obviously we

862
00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:15,960
Speaker 1: name some of the partners that you have, but what

863
00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:18,760
Speaker 1: does the BAO look for in terms of partner Obviously

864
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,640
Speaker 1: it's an innovation, there's plenty of people here that want

865
00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:22,200
Speaker 1: to be involved.

866
00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:24,520
Speaker 3: What are you looking for in partnerships?

867
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:27,680
Speaker 6: Well, first of all, we're looking for partners that you know,

868
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:30,360
Speaker 6: share the values that we have, which is to really

869
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:35,719
Speaker 6: elevate Africa, you know through sports entertainment, but also who

870
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:38,440
Speaker 6: look at elevating the youth of Africa and giving the

871
00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:41,000
Speaker 6: youth of African opportunity to excel, which is what we

872
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:43,040
Speaker 6: do through B a L. And so we look for

873
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:47,279
Speaker 6: partners that not only have shared values with us, but

874
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:50,080
Speaker 6: also really want to reach the funds that we bring

875
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:51,719
Speaker 6: to them because we give them a platform for them

876
00:46:51,719 --> 00:46:54,720
Speaker 6: to read their funds. And so once we share those values,

877
00:46:54,719 --> 00:47:00,239
Speaker 6: the rest is technical. It's discussing very technical elements of that. Yeah,

878
00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 6: So that's what we look for in partners. And if

879
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:03,360
Speaker 6: there's anybody here that wants to be part of this

880
00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:06,719
Speaker 6: beautiful family that is b AL, please we're here to

881
00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:08,799
Speaker 6: discuss with you. I think there's a lot of opportunities

882
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:11,799
Speaker 6: to do that in all categories. And again when I

883
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:14,799
Speaker 6: say all categories, you know it's not just about you know,

884
00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:18,200
Speaker 6: you know, sports or talent. I think the beauty about

885
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:21,400
Speaker 6: B a L is that we bring all sectors together.

886
00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:24,400
Speaker 6: If you can think about any industry. We're in a hotel,

887
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:28,960
Speaker 6: you know, we're consuming you know digital services. You flew here,

888
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:33,360
Speaker 6: it's aviation, you're going to eat. Agriculture is affected every sector.

889
00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:37,200
Speaker 6: Every industry you can think about somehow contributes or sports catalyzes.

890
00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:38,759
Speaker 5: When I was in Iverory.

891
00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:41,360
Speaker 6: Cost last week, somebody asked me, you know about mining,

892
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:44,840
Speaker 6: because I tried to show how every industry benefits from mining,

893
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:47,400
Speaker 6: I mean from sports, and they kind of try to

894
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:50,120
Speaker 6: challenge me about mining and I told them, no, you know,

895
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:55,000
Speaker 6: the trophy and the rings and the medals. Mining also

896
00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:59,840
Speaker 6: has a role to play in sports as well. But

897
00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:02,319
Speaker 6: let me just finish by saying, I think that what

898
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:04,160
Speaker 6: we really want to see is more people coming to

899
00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:06,640
Speaker 6: watch bl games when they happen, because that's when you

900
00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:07,680
Speaker 6: show the best of Africa.

901
00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:09,160
Speaker 5: You see beautiful countries.

902
00:48:09,200 --> 00:48:11,040
Speaker 6: You see that they have shoes, You see that they

903
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:13,360
Speaker 6: have clean roads, you see that they have electricity, You

904
00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:15,520
Speaker 6: see that it's actually a very beautiful place in many ways,

905
00:48:15,560 --> 00:48:17,400
Speaker 6: maybe even more beautiful than where you're coming from with

906
00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:20,120
Speaker 6: all those biases and so sports, I think is one

907
00:48:20,160 --> 00:48:29,400
Speaker 6: way to elevate the best of Africa.