The ongoing process that requires national sports organisations to be registered by National Council of Sports (NCS) will come with extended challenges.
Suddenly federations that have been operating just within Kampala “will need a countrywide structure (to meet the elements of the law that require them to have operations in at least 50 to 75 percent of the districts in Uganda),” according to Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) president Donald Rukare.
However, questions linger on whether the existing sports ecosystem has enough know-how within to handle this growth.
Meanwhile, the sector still struggles with untrained administrators and elite athletes retire with no pathway into the life after. Also, since sports is not considered a viable career sector, a lot of employable talent goes to serve in other sectors.
It is from this background and more that UOC, a convening authority for organizations and individuals in the sports sector, is partnering with human resource firm NFT Consults to pilot a National Sports Employment and Talent Development Initiative (NSETDI).
“This is a timely concept. Call it an internship programme on positive steroids that will create a pathway for national sports employment.
“NFT wants to help us identify (employable) talent, develop it, and look for the requisite placement in the work market. Our people, say in marketing and sales, would like to have that one year of help to develop their talent and we would also like to leverage on NFT’s expertize, knowledge, and connections,” Rukare said.
UOC and Uganda Athletics general secretary Beatrice Ayikoru added that “many of us serving in sports are volunteers and would like to beef up our human resource to help with the day-to-day tasks of the federations. We are open to see how best we can work with each other.”
NFT Consult brings 21 years of deep expertise in talent placement, training design, stakeholder engagement, and programme management across public and private sectors in 12 countries.
“Uganda stands at a pivotal moment. With one of Africa’s youngest populations, a rapidly expanding sports sector, co-hosting rights for Afcon (Africa Cup of Nations) 2027, and deep connections to the global Olympic movement, the country has every ingredient needed to transform sport from an activity into an industry. NSETDI is designed to make that transformation real,” Elizabeth Ntege, the chief executive officer of NFT Consult, said.
Opportunities
The initiative, they believe, could create 5,000 meaningful careers for young Ugandans in the sports economy by 2030.
Those targeted include; transitioning athletes, sports-adjacent graduates, those not in education or employment, women in sport, sports administrators, plus refugees and displaced youth.
NSETDI maps nine career pathway domains in which these jobs can be created. These include; sports development which would target sports officers and the media, business and managements targeting agents and other professionals in sport, elite performance support designed for nutritionists and analysts among others, events and hospitality, leisure and fitness industry, integrity and anti-doping, technology and data, media and content economy, e-sports and gaming.
NFT and UOC – which provides internship, sports administration and management courses, plus athlete career development programmes – also believe that Afcon 2027, which will be co-hosted by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, could create time-bound demand for thousands of trained sports professionals.
The Olympic movement (IOC, Anoca, Olympic Solidarity, and the Olympic Refuge Foundation) also has active funding programmes targeting career development initiatives and, according to NFT’s proposal “are also actively seeking models for sports workforce development that can be scaled across Africa.”
UOC is a proven employer as it retains some of its best interns. Imagine if the whole sports sector had the capacity to do the same.
“Uganda’s sports sector is trapped in a paradox. It produces world-class athletes but cannot produce the workforce needed to sustain, professionalise, or economically develop the sector. In other instances, employers take advantage of people in sports because they have passion and are willing to serve for anything. We need to professionalize,” Ntege said.