Dr Nana Akua Achiaa Adom-Aboagye, currently the Vice-Chairperson of the Education and Culture Commission of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has joined the SportBusiness Africa Centre (SBAC), a pan-African sport policy think tank based in Accra.
Dr Adom-Aboagye is a Ghanaian-South African raised in a sporting family, and herself, a sportswoman in her youth, having medaled a handful of times at the national level in South Africa; she works as an academic research scholar in Cape Town, South Africa.
Dr Adom-Aboagye’s scholarly ethos is to give a voice to those that sport policies and decisions affect, in order to affect the thoughts of decision-makers with sound research knowledge and information.
Hence, she believes in and strives for: research for impact – because only then can the thinking of those in sport be truly challenged. With respect to areas of interest, she endeavours to explore the underlying contributions to issues faced in African sport, particularly Gender (women and sport) and policy, due to the obvious deplorable extent of lag between Africa and the rest of the world in these two areas.
So as long as it involves sport or is sport-related, Dr Adom-Aboagye wants to learn and find out more and share the findings.
Accepting the offer to join the SBAC, Dr Adom-Aboagye was grateful for the opportunity offered her, amongst others, to join such a noble cause to explore as well as research the underlying contributions to issues faced in sport in Africa.
She reiterated that Gender (women and sport) and policy are of particular interest to her, due to how we are lagging behind the rest of the world in these two areas.
“I believe that, if we do not challenge the thinking of those in sport, especially the leaders, then we will struggle to see Africa Sport lead on the global stage”, she stated, adding, “I will always be available to be involved in research into topics that are globally relevant, but lacking in Africa.”
Nana Akua, further stressed her belief that “in order to change the sporting landscape (in Africa or in selected African countries), we need to re-evaluate and consider a bottom-up approach, in order to ensure that policies and the implementation thereof, truly benefit the athletes.
“This is the approach I take in my research – giving voice to those that policies and decisions affect, in order to effect change in the thought processes of decision-makers.”
Welcoming Dr Adom-Aboagye to the SBAC, the pan-African Think Tank’s Founder and Chairman of its Board of Trustees, Mr Magnus Naabe Rex Danquah was grateful for the start of a continental network of expertise that will challenge current thinking in sport across Africa, especially involving governments, sporting federations and associations as well as policymakers at all levels of political and social governance structures.
Mr Rex Danquah agreed with Dr Adom-Aboagye that for African Sport to improve, the continent will need lessons of experience, either from other sectors or other countries, hence the birth and positioning of the SBAC to create the enabling environment for African athletes to develop and grow their talents to the fullest, assured that they will compete at the highest levels of global competitions.
She holds a DPhil in Sport Management from the University of Johannesburg, where she was supervised by one of the most eminent global scholars in the field of sport development – Prof. Cora Burnett.
Dr Adom-Aboagye’s PhD research looked at – Gender Equity in Sport-related Policies: a Case Study for Understanding Empowerment and Inclusion in South Africa. One of her international PhD assessors wrote of her thesis: “It might be possible for this thesis to form the basis for leadership framework and modelling for the continent.”
Dr Adom-Aboagye also holds an MA in Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science from the University of the Western Cape, where her research looked at Funding Support for Elite Athletes in South Africa.
She has also obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Organisational Psychology and Industrial Sociology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Sport Management, both from the University of Cape Town; a Certificate in Knowledge Management and a BA Honours Degree, both from the University of South Africa and a Programme Certificate in African Feminist and Gender Studies from the University of South Africa.
The SBAC will launch the maiden edition of its official mouthpiece, AFRICA’S PASSIONS, a quarterly bulletin for sportbusiness in Africa next month, October 2021 together with two position papers on ‘Sport Infrastructure in Ghana: Compulsive Need for Sustainability Plans” as well as “Sport Tourism in Ghana: the Case of Kwahu Paragliding Festival”.
Mr Rex Danquah, the SBAC Founder and Chairman, was also the Founding President of the Ghana Chamber of Events Management (GCEM), a former HOST of the erstwhile ‘SPORTS DIGEST’ TV discussions programme on GBC-TV in the eighties, editor of award-winning ‘SPORTS COIN’ weekly and currently a Patron of the Ghana Manchester United Supporters Club.