Africa has unlimited sport talent – Mwiya

Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) chief administrator Fred Simataa Mwiya says Africa does not have a sport talent problem but a sport financing problem.

Mwiya was speaking at the SportsBitz Africa Forum last week in Kigali, Rwanda where Namibia was represented by officials from the Namibia Cycling Federation, Netball Namibia (NN), Namibia Wrestling Federation (NWF), Namibia Boxing Federation (NABF) and sport commissioner John Graft.

Speaking at the SportsBitz Africa Forum last week, Mwiya said: “Let me begin with a simple proposition – Africa does not have a sports talent problem, we have a sport financing and investment challenge.”

Namibia, he says is guided by its Sixth National Development Plan (NDP 6) and Vision 2030 which recognise sport as a contributor to sustainable socio-economic development and calls for its professionalisation and commercialisation.

“This is reinforced by our current 8th administration, which identifies sport as a key national priority sector ranking it at number two,” says Mwiya.

Namibia wants to increase sport’s contribution to employment from one percent to 3.5% by 2030, and does not regard it as merely a policy target but as a call to action, Mwiya emphasises.

He says for too long, sport has been viewed primarily as something expensive that the government just pours money into, companies sponsor and communities consume.

“It is time to change that narrative, because sport is an economic asset that creates jobs, builds enterprises, drives tourism, develops young people, empowers communities and generates digital and media value.”

The NSC chief says if properly structured, sport can attract and generate capital while delivering measurable economic and social returns.

“At the Namibia Sports Commission, we are pursuing a transformation agenda to build a diversified, transparent, professional and investable sports ecosystem.

“Therefore, Namibia’s message from Kigali is clear: We must move from funding sport to financing sport, from sponsorship to investment, from dependency to sustainability, and from potential to measurable impact.

“We are now changing the question from, “Who will sponsor our next tournament? to what investment opportunity can sport create, and what measurable return can it deliver?”

He argues that the approach is to use public investment as an anchor while mobilising private capital, development finance, philanthropy, strategic partnerships and commercial revenues.

“We are developing investment-ready opportunities across sport tourism, infrastructure, academies, technology, digital platforms, events, athlete development and sustainable facilities.”

Mwiya says that the test of success will not simply be how much money enters sport, but what that investment changes.

“How many young people find livelihoods, enterprises are created, facilities become sustainable and communities gain opportunities.

“To investors and development partners in this room, Namibia is open for sport investment. To our African colleagues, let us build sports economies, and not merely sports programmes,” says Mwiya.

He wants to see that sport be transformed from cost centre into a driver of economic opportunity, human development and prosperity for all.

He says the future of African sport will not be secured by funding alone, but by investment, innovation, meaningful partnerships and the courage to change the way people think about sport, and that Namibia is ready to help build that future.

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