BY Kevin Mapasure Former Gunners player Terrence Malunga has established the Zimbabwe Football Forum (ZFF) which will be an annual stakeholder conference with the inaugural edition set to be held on October 14 in Harare.
The main aim of the forum, the first of its kind in the country, is professionalising and commercialising the game in the country.
Malunga, who quit football at just 23 to pursue a law degree in London, hopes that the forum can change the way the game is being run in Zimbabwe so that it adopts a business approach.
For this programme, his organisation TM Sports is targeting all key stakeholders in the game including the government, football associations, corporates, supporters, players, clubs, media, the Premier Soccer League, educational institutions, stadia owners, coaches, administrators, scouts, agents, doctors and physios, sports analysts as well as fitness trainers.
He said that his experience in the United Kingdom and Egypt as well as knowledge acquired in the banking sector, inspired him to try and instigate change in the way football is perceived in the country.
“With a little bit of exposure in the UK and Egypt, I came to appreciate and realise that how much of a business football is unlike the way we treat football here in Zimbabwe where we just see football as a past time entertainment activity,” he said. “There is need for us to start looking at football as a standalone industry that can contribute to the GDP of the country. Look at how countries like Brazil — the kind of foreign remittances that that they get just because of the players that they have. Here the first step is to consider football as an industry that has to be supported by the government. So I just said we need to have a platform to discuss and provide networking avenues where people connect. We need to instigate a mindset shift.”
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TM has lined up regional and international speakers including former footballer from west Africa, some from Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia.
Some of the main objectives of the forum will be to; encourage dialogue, stir discussion, and devise relevant solutions on the pertinent issues within the industry, generate business opportunities, collaborations and strategic partnerships, incite creativity and investment within the football sector.
Malunga, who won the Premier Soccer League title with Gunners in 2009 and went on to play in the Caf Champions League, is currently studying for a masters degree in sports law and is already looking to impart some of the knowledge he has acquired in the industry.
The forum is; “Driven by an intense and passionate zeal to commercialise, transform, and pioneer change within the football industry, the ZFF is a platform where the industry’s critical and leading stakeholders congregate to influence the future of the most popular sport in Zimbabwe and beyond. Being the first of its kind in Zimbabwe, the forum is an annual conference that aims to give an opportunity to domestic, regional, and international football leaders and partners sharing a unique passion for the business of sports to meet, discuss, incite, and generate business and networking opportunities amongst each other.”
TM, which is responsible for organizing the event, is a prominent sports and talent management, branding, and marketing agency.
The agency comprises of a diverse team of professionals ranging from lawyers to former footballers led by Malunga who is a lawyer, banker, and former Zimbabwe Under 17, 20 and 23 star.
For the ZFF programme, TM established an advisory board that comprises More Moyo, who is the IMM Graduate School head, Tichaona Moleni and Desmond Ali, who are both bankers. Masimba Mutemangira from the Sports and Recreation Commission, Davide Muchengi, a stockbroker, Violet Jubane, the sports programme and development manager at Adrenaline as well as Zifa national teams general manager Wellington Mupandare
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