First things first, Africa has beautiful stories, rich heritage, and camaraderie that no other continent has, only that our good, inspirational stories are forever somewhere hidden under a particular stereotype, made more believable by the rampant corruption across the continent, the rebel insurgency in some parts, and the inequalities produced by terrible policies and greed by those with power and means to do to right.

Value chain?

An analysis that seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the value created by an entity, in our, context the value that could be created by hosting the AFCON 2027 showpiece as per Botswana’s intention. This piece seeks three things, firstly to provoke a healthy, quality debate and/or conversation among citizens that will lead to, highlighting opportunities that citizens can derive strategies and means to generate a living/money, both temporary and long term, and thirdly, to engage sports leadership to be open for a dialogue and policy proposals that create value for all. This piece is seemingly an unorthodox move as Football/sports, in general, are not viewed by most as very beneficial or influential to the economic setup of our country, in simple terms we have yet to have a round table discussion on first accepting the economic development through sports, and secondly harnessing the sports value chains, which in my opinion is a field which presents very vast and interesting economic, social and cultural development. A football showpiece of this magnitude, before the first match even kicks off, multi-millions if not billions would have circulated in the economy, from consultancy to infrastructure development, to the selling of merchandise, transportation, lodging, ticketing, training, and gym facilities, medical and sports nutrition, to broadcasting rights, studio discussions, and local shows depicting the country football history.

With Botswana having officially submitted its bid to host the 36th Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2027, this indeed shows a brazen move by her, especially considering the last-hour pullout by Botswana’s dear neighbor Namibia amid the reported N$4.8 billion required to upgrade the facilities. The mood, on a subjectivity scale, feels and looks somewhat so-so, with 50% of naysayers believing the 2027 bid is prematurely put together, and misguided funds usage as they view Namibia to have been reasonable by choosing to fight Drought and other social challenges instead of hosting football, some as well believe the Bid book will not stand a chance considering the fierce competitors. The believers on the other hand really cannot wait to see the cream de la cream of African stars with their own eyes.

Botswana has never been a failure at putting in money, work, infrastructure, and manpower to produce world-class sites, from the north-south water pipe, to Muhembo Bridge to the SKMI hospital and most recently the three very exquisite flyovers. Indeed the planned 3 stadia can be delivered on time in full! As a country, we have mostly been found wanting when it comes to ensuring the value chain of any event, activity, or infrastructure development flows through to the people at the low of the lowest! In simple terms the majority of the citizens, should we host in 2027 or any year will only enjoy watching the dribbles, the skills, and the goals and if super lucky will get some shirts from the star boys! This article will in three parts, break down the entire supply chain, in case reference to the Botswana 2027 AFCON bid, information used will be from my own expert opinion on both areas dear to me: football and supply chain, those of my friends and colleagues, the bid book, interviews with football custodians as well as value chain consultants and mostly from top scholars who have a neck on the same subject matter.

The money pot

Cameroon, the Afcon 2019 host, despite the stormy challenges it faced, CAF reported having generated around US$83 million. In a year of such uncertainties of Covid-19, postponements and delayed stadia completion, and general doubts over event management, With top flight leagues disapproving of the showpiece, and the security threats as rebels were ravaging some to be host cities of the country. This of course did not all come cheap, Cameron has had to construct 2 new stadia, renovate 4 more, and construct a better network for ease of access to stadia, all this was estimated to be in the region of US$4 billion, and that’s just a spend on infrastructure! Another case in point could be the CAF report that indicated South Africa, as the 2013 host generated an estimated $1.1 billion through various sectors.

Botswana has announced an inspiring proposal to spend in excess of P6 .7 billion, covering the construction of 3 new stadia in Kasane, Maun, and Greater Gaborone as well as refurbishing the already existing 3 stadia. There would not be any doubts that this project can be delivered, there are almost zero threats to security as Gaborone, for instance, is measured as one, if not the safest city in Africa, As mentioned earlier the only threats to this would mostly those shared by those who actually hold a belief that costs of hosting Afcon will outweigh the benefits expected, looking at the uproar during the said P65 million payment to Ruben Reddy Architects for the development of the bid-document, Challenges faced by Botswana include economic challenges, unemployment of youth, high corruption rate, high rise of prices of food and basic needs, while BFA has not been so clean with challenges such as the seemingly non-existence of football development, the terrible low quality and low budget domestic league, it will take the AFCON bid custodians a lot to convince the naysayers on the good this will bring as well as giving them confidence that corruption will not be the order of the day.

One Ookeditse has written something profoundly on this line ‘It should be easy to put together a proper document that reasons and provides benefits of hosting the showpiece’

The value chain flow

Procurement of consultancy services: TV Rights, Media Relations, Commercial Partnerships

Starting with the big one, the BWP 65 Million that went into the bid book will automatically indicate that Afcon is quite a major spend area on consultancy aspects, from just planning aspects. This for some is unfortunate as the company doing the job is not necessarily a local Botswana owned, for me the government and BfA can be forgiven, it is the first pitch we make for such a gigantic project, and we are up against quite fierce competition, so the best consultancy firm was the right choice, this may be the first major footballing event, but definitely not the last, it will be interesting to see if going forward we will have local firms taking these services up, remember value stream is sometimes its long, you do not necessarily benefit from the onset.

With the need to commission about three Stadia across the country as well as revamp the already existing, consultants in very specialized areas will be highly sort out, Consultants including project managers, architects, service engineers, cost consultants, contract managers, Environmental impact assessors for sustainability aspects, legal practitioners, and project inspectors. These are high-end jobs, and though one may deem them temporal as they may span for 2 years, there is so much value that the specialists will tap into, It will be very important and ideal for the government to at least try to ensure the companies are engaged are local, we have proved very strong in this regard (The Boatle interchange’s near collapse can a bit be excused), and compel them to use SMMES firms as sub-contractors.

International relations is as well an area that has to be attended to the very first day the bids are disclosed, there will be needed for a very strong locally based PR firm to be engaged, probably with a partnership with one that has coverage into Africa and the world, Botswana sets itself apart through the diamond, beef, tourism, and culture industries, it’s a given that our AFCON bid, if we win the bid it would be mainly because of the influence of these four, there will be a need for local media firms, not only those who are football focused to create high-quality standards and consistent content, covering mainly these four areas and ensuring there are intertwined with our football and its development elements, The Media companies (not mainstream) have been really been doing so well though with limited resources, A number of young media practitioners have had top-notch music videos and digital footprints and creation of quality content, This proves that there deserve to be engaged, as for other young professionals in the digital and multimedia space, maybe it’s time to start positioning themselves

Athletics Association for instance has done well and put itself out there, it’s easier for them to use their superstars as ambassadors for their events, and Tebogo Letsile has trended on Twitter at some point as many saw him as the next Sir Usain Bolt. At the FNBB Grand Prix, he was the face of the sprints as Batswana and the world wanted to see him vs. Omanyala and others. This though doesn’t mean Football has nowhere to look, we have quite some good success stories, Dipsy comes to mind, he has traveled around the world, he has set in AFCON analysis studios, he has done well by getting some ambassador deals before, it’s not a new territory, Most recently Orebonye has flown the flag so high in the African continent, in a league we have not really participated in so that also created a good buzz. So a number of high-level consultancies will be available mostly for former players as ambassadors, studio guests, analysis and reporters, This also can create some more fancied roles that some football experts may chip in such as providing intelligence on various issues such as weather conditions, traveling, food, culture and areas of legacy projects, etc. that would be deemed necessary for better team performance, We have seen this area is a huge value add in major tournaments as big team depend on local communities to perform better.

According to CAF, the Cameroon Afcon was beamed worldwide, with viewership in over 150 states, with major channels such as beIN, ESPN, BBC and BBC, SKY, and SUPERSPORT, one can only marvel at the opportunity that Botswana will have during the preparations to the event, the event itself and the communities within the country. A chance to be viewed consecutively for over weeks will come in with huge value and attraction for now and the foreseeable future. This also means there will be the availability of slots on freelancing jobs for those in media and sports areas to tap in. One can also wish BTV will have a chance to play a major role in ensuring the AFCON, culture, and tourism of the country is shared in all corners of the world.

The Venues: Infrastructure Development

It’s no secret that the best thing that comes out of infrastructure development for such major events is employment creation, followed by the ability of other related, mostly delayed infrastructure to be completed, this means the facelift that greater Gaborone and other areas earmarked for the constitutions will be huge. The minister of sport was rightfully quoted saying “Preparing for the competition will result in an infrastructure boom and the creation of thousands of temporary and permanent jobs. As we strive to become a high-income economy by 2036, there are few better catalysts than hosting competitions such as the AFCON.” One can already see how the greater Gaborone stadium earmarked for Gabane will automatically lead to the reconstruction of that old dirty road, that’s an extra 20 km of work and value created. Construction should never be viewed only in the basic sense of brick and cement for builders and serving of fat cakes and soup by the roadside cooks but rather, from the Architectural consultancies, engineering, procurement of materials, movement of those materials, and other supporting activities as well. One can really align themselves with an area of expertise or an easier area to tap into this great opportunity. Again a few may say easier said than done – it’s true that the government should be seen playing a role that empowers Batswana-owned businesses, and youth-owned businesses as well as empowering women and moving them from the sidelines of cooking breakfast for constructors to playing more activate valuable role. Given the time frame and speed that these developments will need to be completed, this really offers great value to almost any player in this space. Some other infrastructure that one may have to anticipate includes hospital upgrading, as well as a mushroom of lodges and even hotels. Our ports of entry are also an eyesore too many, there will definitely be work done to revamp a number of them.

Facilities Management

Still using Cameron as a yardstick, a budget allocation of US$22.40 million was approved to facilitate the event’s organization, according to their Minister of State, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh. This can only show and tell Batswana that there will definitely be more millions released on other aspects such as the one under discussion, Minister Rakgare did indicate that there is a development budget of around 20 billion Pula that might be pushed towards 2027 AFCON infrastructure development. Those in the infrastructure development space will attest that for better operational efficiency there is a need for improved facility management. Therefore a number of entities will benefit through outsourcing of areas such as security provisions, gardening and upkeep, plumbing, electrical and lighting works, sanitation and waste management as well as technological and systems operations. Also as years pass by there will still be those benefiting from revamping and face-lifting of these facilities same as now some companies will benefit in revamp of existing stadia. This area though can be picked as a pain point as there is a notion as well as compelling evidence that there will be less value derived from these facilities. In South Africa, after a £2.4bn splash to host the 2010 World Cup, one of their municipalities, which houses the 54,000-seat Cape Town Stadium, with the magnificent backdrops of the world-renowned Table Mountain and Robben Island has provided a headache of annual R42 millions on Maintenance costs, coupled with poor club football and national team matches attendance and performance, low sponsorship value this poses a serious threat to post-event. One may counter this through a justification that there are other sporting codes to utilize this, but again, Botswana hosted at least one major event in 3 years. A very low ROI.

Training facilities

It is very commendable that some really low to mid-table teams such as Masitaoka FC, VTM FC, and Matebele FC have constructed impressive training facilities for themselves, Though we may all agree that their vision was never AFCON 2027 particularly, currently, these teams are reaping benefits of hiring their facilities to other teams in the premier league and to other events, The hosting of such a masterpiece means that they will have to upgrade, put in the standard required by CAF for official training camps for the nations, surely these will bring quite a big payday to them. One can hope that bigger teams such as Township Rollers will have such plans in the near future to try to tap as well into this value chain for 2027, and beyond, more teams have better training facilities, the better the quality of the product: football. Other training equipment and performance systems pose a great opportunity as well for local sports shops such as Vision Sports shop and Gyms, There has been a shortage of sport-dedicated shops in the country, a gap I personally feel should be filled by our local sports stars, they have the market, the supporters and the media face and know the products better, The challenge for them could be funding, the business plan and business acumen.

Another thought in mind would be the need for the Association to find ways to utilize the open spaces in stadia, areas, particularly in the national stadium, that have been turned into urinating zones but was specifically designed for stadium mall and/or pop-up stores, and encouragement should be made to push street vendors to occupy those, selling merchandise, food, and drinks, beverages, photo booths, etc., for example, should be facilitated from those spaces, Stadium malls will bring in a lot of activity and traction for those looking for the experience. One could probably be thinking this would not work, and rightfully so as we all have varying opinions, but again if we don’t try, we will never know!

In part two of the series, the value chain flow continues as we will look into areas of Logistics, Merchandise, how other sector value can be intertwined with football, sport development, legacy projects, The Fan’s value, and private companies’ role in ensuring value is shared with citizens. The series will then conclude with the practical approach to value creation and tapping by citizens at large.

About me:

The supply chain phenomenon has a lot of niche areas that a professional can focus on and explore further, create research articles, and mostly provoke thought and conversation that will lead to a positive change within and outside the supply chain scope, With over 10 years of experience in the supply chain field, Coupled with a burning passion for sports, particularly football, having served for some teams in the highest league of the country, as well as being a pundit and football contributor. I have therefore found it worthy to fuse together these two areas, a seemingly unorthodox move as Football, in general, is not perceived as a value add by the larger society, with simpler words and narration as this is inked, the idea is to spark a citizen-led round table discussion that will first accept the role of sports in economic development. And secondly harness the sports value chains, which in my opinion is a field that presents very vast and interesting economic, social, and cultural benefits for all.

(This is a first of a three part series)