5. Amadou Gallo Fall in the valley : "My passion for Africa has been consistent"

Silverbacks Valley welcomes the Godfather of African Basketball, Amadou Gallo Fall. This episode is powered by Afroballers.

In this episode, your host Ibrahim Sagna dives into the journey of the man whose name has become eponymous of African basketball : from how he first became accustomed to the game to how he joined the NBA and led one of the world's most recognizable sports brands to identify the potential of Africa's sports industry.

5 IDEAS DISCUSSED WITH AMADOU GALLO FALL IN THE VALLEY

1.) "I first wanted to be a doctor before I realised the impact that I could have in sports" Amadou Gallo Fall is known around the continent as the godfather of African basketball, the man who essentially brought the NBA to our continent. But did you know that when he first got a scholarship to play basketball and study in the US, he planned on practicing medicine ? Amadou Gallo Fall shares with us the parallel he was able to draw between the organisation Doctors without Borders and the sports industry - which led him to pick the latter.

2.) "The key to pioneering is self-confidence, even when the path isn't necessarily clear"

When he first launched the NBA Africa office in 2010, Amadou Gallo Fall admits he wasn't sure what to expect. A decade later, he has become the President of the Basketball Africa League, a joint venture between NBA and FIBA, the first international spin-off league of the NBA. He shares some advice on how to venture into the unknown and why self-confidence is relevant.

3.) "I want to be a chef someday"

Amadou Gallo Fall first began working on the Sports for Education and Economic Development project in 1998 while still a student in college. Over 20 years later, the organization has enabled kids from the African continent to gain sports scholarships to study abroad : some became investment bankers, others such as Gorgui Dieng became NBA players. He explains the values that SEED is aiming to share with its students and how they encourage students (and parents) to follow their passion.

4.) "To avoid that our sports infrastructures become white elephants you need content"

In the second part of the episode, Amadou Gallo Fall explains the vision of the Basketball Africa League : to create one of the best sports leagues in the world tailored for African audiences. This grand ambition requires work and investments, he concedes, but it can yield significant returns especially in job creation. He emphasises on the fact that while creating sports arenas is key, there needs to be a similar level of attention to enabling young people to forge their career path in the sports industry.

5.) "If African culture can transcend border, we need the local environment to enable it to flourish" Amadou Gallo Fall speaks to how the sports and creative industries can work together to enable more trends to come out of African countries. He foresees the Basketball Africa League as a catalyst in the development of world-class arenas that can then become the stage for African and international acts to perform in and to boost the tourism industry for these countries.