The highly anticipated inaugural edition of the Sports Africa Investment Summit (#SAIS2025) exceeded expectations, delivering two power-packed days of dialogue, deal-making, and action-oriented discussions. The summit brought together key stakeholders from sports, business, and governance, setting the stage for accelerated investment in African sports.

Sport Nigeria's Vice Chairman, Yahaya Maikori, delivered the welcome address, while CEO Nkechi Obi set the agenda for the summit. The Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko, delivered a keynote address titled "Sports as a Catalyst for Africa Towards 2063" .

The summit featured three plenary sessions, one fire-side chat, and 18 breakout sessions, all focused on creating a market for sports goods and services, developing ideal products, and funding market creation and product development activities.

Two major highlights of the summit included the signing of a technical and collaborative agreement between the Government of Abia State and Sport Nigeria LTD/GTE for the development of the Abia State Sports Special Economic Zone (#SSEZ). Additionally, Sport Nigeria presented its flagship community-based infrastructure project, Spaces For Sport (#S4S).

Goodwill messages were delivered by esteemed guests, including the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, and Christophe Bazivamo, the Minister of Lands, Environment, Forestry, Water, and Mines in Rwanda.

SAIS is a premier annual event championed by Sport Nigeria, designed to establish a platform for transformative partnerships and investments in Africa's sports infrastructure ¹.