Dream Sports Africa recently launched its operations and announced plans to design and manage youth empowerment through sports programmes in Nigeria.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dream Sports Africa, Chenfa Dombin, said during the launch; “Launching Dream Sports Africa is the start of something big in Nigeria that will grow across Africa. I am humbled and honoured to be able to impact young Africans through sports. I was in their shoes not too long ago and so for me this work is driven by passion and purpose and giving back to my community.”
Dream Sports Africa is a U.S.-based non-profit organisation registered in Nigeria as a NGO with operations in Ghana and Liberia. Dream Sports Africa has a vision of an African continent where all youth can access education through sports to develop physical, intellectual and moral powers.
Its goal is to create sport development initiatives that build skills and empower African youth for future professions. Dream Sports Africa was founded in 2015 by Chenfa Dombin, a Nigerian who moved to the U.S. in 2008 to get a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan with a focus on developing skills to impact youth empowerment through sports in Nigeria.
The University of Michigan awarded him a full merit based scholarship into their MBA programme. After completing his studies in 2010 Chenfa worked at a Washington DC-based international nonprofit for five years where as the Director of Youth Empowerment he designed and managed three innovative programmes that raised $3 million over three years for youth empowerment through basketball, athletics and peer mentoring programmes in Nigeria. These programmes have reached 15 Nigeria secondary schools and over 5,000 youth in the FCT directly and indirectly. They have also employed about 50 Nigerians as programme staff and coaches.
While speaking during the launch, the President of the Nigerian Basketball Federation, Tijjani Umar, said; “Dream Sports Africa’s model emphasises grassroots development of sports as a way to access and impact Nigerian and African youth positively. This helps extend the impact of sports organisations like the NBBF and we look forward to partnering with Dream Sports African on several innovative youth empowerment through sports programmes in Nigeria.”
According to Mactabene Amachree, Dream Sports Africa Board Member and first Nigerian woman to play for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), “Dream Sports Africa gives other young kids in Africa an opportunity to pursue their dreams using sports as a platform as well as I did. Growing up in Nigeria, Basketball gave me an opportunity to travel the world, expand my horizon and play in the WNBA. I am a firm believer in the power of sports to impact our youth beyond the game and transform our communities.”
In 2017 Dream Sports Africa will be partnering with U.S.-based companies and individuals such as large US based African diaspora population in the U.S. These partnerships will be used to raise funds that support youth empowerment through sports in Nigeria and other African countries.
