Patrick Njiru: Make sports marketing more attractive

Patrick Njiru [Courtesy]

The inaugural Sports conference by Kenya Academy of Sports (KAS) began yesterday in Nairobi to deliberate ways of strengthening its impact on sports development in Kenya.

KAS, whose main mandate is to establish sports training academies, train technical and sports administrators as well as promote research and development, brought together stakeholders to discuss issues in the sports industry and emerging governance matters in sports sector.  

“The aim of exploiting the networking and partnerships opportunities is necessary for a sustainable sports development agenda. As an academy, we can effectively play our role in a rapidly-changing sports world,” said KAS acting CEO Gordon Oluoch.

The three-day conference themed ‘Transforming the world through Sports’ saw retired rally driver Patrick Njiru call on stakeholders to enhance sports marketing and commercialisation to make it more attractive.

Other speakers on day one of the conference included Wycliffe Njororai (University of Texas, USA), Moni Wekesa of Daystar University and Rene Furrer (founder, Sports Academy, Zurich).

The conference, which will be officially opened by Cabinet Secretary for Sports Amina Mohammed, will also focus on sports for peace and development, the need for a national sports day, development and protection of young athletes and sports as an accelerator of the Big Four Agenda.

Other areas of interest will be sports marketing and commercialisation, as well as governance in sports. The role of counties in sports development will also be discussed at the workshop.