Celebrating the Women Shaping Africa’s Sporting Future — Dakar, Senegal Announced as Host for the 2026 Edition
Nairobi, Kenya – November 8, 2025 — The Africa Sports Ventures Group (ASVG) proudly announces the 2025 Honorees of the 50 Most Influential African Women in Sports Awards — a distinguished recognition celebrating the exceptional women transforming the landscape of sports across Africa and the diaspora.
From Olympic icons and ministers to federation presidents, CEOs, journalists, and grassroots trailblazers, these 50 women embody leadership, innovation, and the indomitable spirit of African excellence. Their collective achievements underscore the growing influence of women in shaping the future of African sports governance, participation, and entrepreneurship.

Africa Sports Ventures Group (ASVG) is proud to announce its strategic partnership with The Production Room and Omnilive to deliver world-class broadcast and streaming production for the Legends Track & Field Series, set to debut in 2026 across multiple African nations.
 
This landmark collaboration brings together two of Europe’s most innovative media and production houses to ensure that the Legends Series is not only staged at the highest level of athletics competition but also reaches fans worldwide through cutting-edge technology.

Africa Sports Ventures Group (ASVG) is proud to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Sportscape Media, a South Africa–based media rights management agency, to serve as the exclusive global and continental media rights partner for the highly anticipated Legends Track & Field Series.
Led by veteran sports media executive Gary Rathbone, Sportscape Media brings decades of experience in sports broadcasting, rights negotiations, and media distribution across Africa and beyond. With his unparalleled expertise and global networks, Rathbone and his team are poised to position the Legends Track & Field Series as a premier athletics property in the global sports marketplace.

Africa Sports Ventures Group (ASVG) has officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nilayo Sports Management Ltd, Nigeria’s leading sports marketing and event management company, to organize the Mary Onyali Classic, a world-class track and field meet scheduled for May 23rd–25th, 2026 at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
With over a decade of expertise in staging premier sporting events—including the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, the Nigerian National Sports Festival, and a host of other top-tier properties—Nilayo Sports Management Ltd, led by its dynamic CEO and Managing Director, Mrs. Yetunde Olopade, is primed to deliver an unforgettable celebration blending world-class athletics with Nigerian culture. Fans can expect a unique experience where track & field meets Afrobeats, Suya, beer, and wine in a nation with a deep passion for athletics.

Nairobi, Kenya — September 25th 2025 – Africa Sports Ventures Group (ASVG) is proud to announce the official launch of the Legends Track & Field Series, a groundbreaking new athletics initiative that will kick off on November 6, 2025, at the prestigious Sankara Hotel’s Grand Ballroom in Nairobi, Kenya.
The event will bring together delegations from Nigeria, Zambia, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone, alongside partners, sponsors, investors, and members of the international sporting community, to celebrate the beginning of a series set to transform athletics in Africa and beyond.
The Legends Track & Field Series is anchored by some of the continent’s greatest athletes, including:

For decades, Africa's athletic prowess on the global stage was synonymous with dominance in distance running. Nations like *Kenya*, *Ethiopia*, and those in *North Africa* became powerhouses, their athletes consistently topping podiums in events from the 5,000 meters to the marathon.
 
However, a significant shift is underway. Fast forward to the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, and a new narrative is emerging. African nations are now asserting a commanding presence—and achieving outright domination—in the sprints and hurdles, events historically dominated by other regions.

Nairobi, Kenya – April 1, 2025 – Africa Sports Ventures Group (ASVG) and Women Sports Africa Network (WSAN) are proud to announce the official launch of the 50 Most Influential African Women in Sports website, www.50mia.com, a digital platform dedicated to honoring and celebrating the remarkable achievements of African women in the sports industry. The website will serve as the official hub for information, nominations, and public engagement for the 2025 Edition of the 50 Most Influential African Women in Sports Awards, scheduled to take place on July 31, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. As part of this milestone launch, the nomination page is now live, inviting the public to submit names of women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in African sports across administration, business, media, technology, and athletics.

Houston, Texas, June 14th, 2024: The Africa Sports Ventures Group is launching its grassroots sports initiative, the Africa High Schools Basketball Showcase, at the esteemed Degla Sports Facilities in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday, June 22nd, 2024.
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This program will showcase a select group of high schools and basketball academies, presenting some of the top high school basketball talents in Kenya. The event serves as a qualifier for the continental championship, featuring winning high schools from different countries, scheduled for Accra, Ghana on December 20th & 21st, 2024.

Houston, Texas, USA, June 12th, 2024: Africa Sports Ventures Group announces Footballer Ademola Lookman of Nigeria and Atalanta BC Football Club as the May 2024 African Athlete of the Month.

Chosen through a selection process involving global fans on the ASVG WhatsApp Channel, Lookman was voted ahead of Manchester United’s Andre Onana, Nigerian Table Tennis Player Aruna Quadri, and Ghanaian Amputee Footballer Mubarak Mohammed.

​Houston Texas, August 18, 2022: Africa Sports Ventures Group will launch Project 144, its flagship High (Secondary) Schools Grassroots basketball program across 12 African Nations starting with Cape Verde from August 19th -21st. 
 
Project 144 is a High (Secondary) Schools Grassroots Basketball program conceptualized by ASVG to aid in the holistic development and establishment of the game and culture of basketball across the African continent, complementing the efforts of a variety of entities in the space starting from but not limited to NBA Africa and its Basketball Africa League (BAL) as part of its mission to contribute in enhancing the sports space across the continent into a fully functional sports industry ecosystem.

​"Oliver the Poet" an upcoming artist from Botswana was Pronounced the Winner of the Inaugural Season of the Africa Music Challenge Pan-Africa Music Talent  show on Tuesday May 25th 2021 which was also Africa Day.
 
At the event, Head of Global Tours for Beyoncé, Allan Floyd said, "Africa is immensely talented in music, so artists should be willing to go out of their comfort zone and reach out to the international market and do collaborations with artists in other countries, something that will help them grow beyond their borders"
 
The Top 5 finalists virtually performed their songs live to an audience that had judges and other artists from around Africa. The top 5 finalists were "Oliver The Poet" of Botswana, Michael George of Sierra Leone, Rea Rachael of Nigeria, David Golekwang from Botswana and Daniel Anthony from Nigeria. 

​She is one of the continent's most remarkably talented chess players. Born in 1996, her life as a Ugandan chess prodigy growing up in Kampala’s poorest slums inspired a major Hollywood movie titled Queen of Katwe in 2016.
Today, we celebrate Phiona Mutesi, a woman who has represented Uganda at four Women's Chess Olympiads, and is one of the first titled female players in Ugandan chess history.
Hers is a modern day Cinderella story, a fairy tale of a young girl from the slums who defied odds to become a Hollywood story.
In her life adapted Disney movie "Queen of Katwe," Mutesi's shows her life growing up in Katwe, Kampala’s largest slum.
Her father died when she was a toddler. From a very young age, she and her siblings had to sell maize on the street instead of going to school.
"My life was just surviving," Mutesi says in one of the interviews.
Her life story was however about to change when as an illiterate girl just aged 9 years in 2005, she met her future coach, a missionary in Katwe called Robert Katende.
The meeting on it's own was not planned. Phiona had secretly followed her brother Brian to Katende's chess classes. As she curiously peered to watch kids like her play chess, Katende noticed her and called her.

​She is a name branded boldly in the masculine administration of football. Her name echoes with pride within the hallways of the more than 109 years of FIFA.
A woman who conquered the odds and became the first woman to sit at a table with men in the FIFA administration.
With so much to give to the sporting fraternity, Africa, Africa Sports Ventures Group and the rest of the world today bows down to you Lydia Nsekera.
One of the most powerful women in sports administration, Nsekera has worn and still wears many hats.
Nsekera has been with the International Olympic Committee since 2009. Currently, she chairs the IOC Women in Sports Commission.
As the former President of Burundi Football Federation (FFB) from 2004 until 2013, it is in football however where her destiny as one of the most powerful names in football is.
Maybe it is right to say football ran through Nsekera's veins as she was born to one of the royal families of Burundi 54 years ago. She is the daughter of a former president of a local soccer club.
A few days back she lost her FIFA council member seat representing Africa to another powerful female figure in the football arena, Sierra Leone's Isha Johansen, a position she held since 2013.
Affectionately known as the first lady of Football, Nsekera's success in the world of sports caught the world’s attention including Forbes.
In March 2020, Forbes included her on a list of 50 Africa’s most powerful women in the world.

​As part of ASVG, Africa and the World’s celebration of pioneering sports women, today we look at former Moroccan 400m women hurdler Nawal El Moutawakel.
Born in April 1962, Moutawakel came to prominence in 1984 when at the age of 22-years, she won a gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympic games.
Her win made her the first Arab and Muslim woman from an Islamic nation to win an Olympic medal. She also became the first woman to win the inaugural women’s 400m hurdles at the Olympics.
In the Moroccan Olympic history, she became the first athlete, men and women, to win an Olympic gold medal.
Of greater significance, her win helped break the cultural barriers which had prematurely killed talents of young women in the Arab countries. Prior to Moutakawel’s heroics, there was an inherent doubt among many, more especially in the conservative Islamic countries, about the capability of Arab women in sports.
Her win opened opportunities for other Arab women in the conservative Islamic countries to transcend cultural and traditional hurdles and actively take part in competitive sport.
In her own home country of Morocco, the 59-year old El Moutakawel is still a revered and popular figure and a role model.