Women in sport leaders gathered at Imperial Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday 29 July for the first-ever gsport Business Breakfast on the eve of Women’s Month, and the message was loud and clear: Women’s sport must chart its own way commercially if it is to achieve sustainable growth.
The breakfast was held to share insights from gsport’s Action Learning journey with Henley Business School and present a commercial roadmap with practical steps to help close the gender pay-gap and ensures that sportswomen are fairly remunerated.
This follows a first for stakeholders in the business of women’s sport over a year ago when twenty decision-makers, including leading sports federations, gathered in a formal online strategy session to map out priorities and actions to move women’s sport forward in capability, impact and commercial strength.
The aim of the gsport/Henley collaboration is to create a practical framework to educate and grow international-level managers working to advance women in sport, and to build an industry commanding international respect.
gsport Founder, Kass Naidoo, says: “A lot has happened in women’s sport since we partnered with xHenley Africa last year. Today is a great opportunity to gather leaders in women’s sport and share gsport’s first-ever Systemic Stairway, to inspire the industry to prioritise the commercialisation of women’s sport.
“As an initiative, gsport has spent the last year putting our learnings into practice, while continually reporting on key advancements in women’s sport through the gsport Newsroom, powered by Momentum in partnership with Telkom. We feel it’s time to make this Stairway freely available to the industry to grow the business of women’s sport.
Founder of the Systemic Stairway, Dr Julian Day, was present at the breakfast, and he encouraged the audience to take action in order to progress their vision for women’s sport.
“There is no point in making decisions if we don’t commit to action. We must make commitments, to make real change. This systematic stairway methodology is one that allows us and the broader women in sport landscape to show support and see through necessary investment .” said Dr Day
Charlotte Nsubuga-Mukasa, Head of Momentum Brand Marketing, delivered a stirling address, on the importance of corporate investment, and what the leading insurer is doing to close the sponsorship gap.
“Women matter at every level. Intellectually, mentally, and physically. Sport impacts society, and thus the question is, are we advancing or tiptoeing to greatness? As Momentum we have embarked on a long-term journey to enable the success of women athletes by advocating for equal pay and equal play. We are calling on all corporates to become #OneMoreFan and flip the switch to realising that investing in women’s sport is a fundamental marketing activity for brands to challenge and close the sponsorship gap.” said Nsubuga-Mukasa.
Nielsen Sports South Africa is gsport’s official Marketing and Insights partner, and the company’s managing director, Jean Willers, shared key insights on the business of women’s sport and the progress being made to close the gap.
“We are really entering an era where strategic investment in women’s sport is providing exceptional value to brands. This starts with capitalizing on multi-screen viewing activities to reach the fans where they are – an insight that forms part of our Nielsen Sport research and a space that brands can tap into. It’s about finding relevant channels to invest in sports through seeing value in how people consume content. Fans are interested in women’s sports and trust brand sponsorships through the relevant sponsorship of athletes. As brands, we need to be ambitious bold and brave,” said Willers.
Wheelchair tennis history maker, Kgothatso Montjane, who signed a host of personal endorsements, over the past year, spoke of the importance of being supported by strong women leaders, which led to the growth of her brand.
“This week we hit another sponsorship milestone by signing a French sponsor called Solvay, which is an international industrial chemical company. I have also been offered a job by them post-career. I am honoured by the new sponsorship because it speaks to the power of good leadership through my team and brands like Avon that choose to see value and investment in us as athletes,”said Montjane.
Ahead of gsport’s 16th birthday on Monday, 1 August, and as a gift to the industry, Montjane presented the gsport Systemic Stairway to a representative of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, to be shared with women’s sport decision makers across the country, as we work with common goals to advance women’s sport.
Photo 1 Caption: Ntambi Ravele (Brand SA Board Member); WAFCON winning Coach of the Tournament, Desiree Ellis; Banyana Banyana star, Thalia Smidt; Banyana Banyana keeper, and tournament Goalkeeper of the Tournament, Andile Dlamini; Lydia Monyepao (SAFA COO); and Hazel Gumede (gsport Trustee). Photo: gsport / Nokuthula Mbatha
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