Aicha Diop Joins ACG Advisory Board to Drive African Sports Growth

African Collaborations Group (ACG) has appointed NBA Africa and Basketball Africa League (BAL) Executive Aicha Diop as its Advisory Board, with over 18 years of experience in sports marketing, sports operations, event management and business development in an international context.

Aicha has worked with top organisations in sports, technology and entertainment in Africa, Europe, Middle-East and North America. She now advises sports organisations and athletes as a consultant in brand marketing, focusing on brand development, audiences and commercial opportunities.

Her appointment brings a valuable added women leadership and sports marketing dimension to ACG's advisory team, especially as the African sports industry continues to find new and exciting avenues for professional leisure sports, athletes, brands and mega sports events.

Key Highlights:

• Aicha Diop joins ACG’s Advisory Board as a new member
• She brings over 18 years of global sports industry experience
• Aicha helped launch the Basketball Africa League for NBA Africa
   

During NBA Africa, Aicha was on the team that helped to launch the NBA's first African outside-North-America professional sports league, the Basketball Africa League. She was responsible for multi-market initiatives, cross functional team management, brand development and audience growth for the league.

She has experience in league development beyond. Previously in her career, Aicha worked in several African markets for IBM, where she was responsible for regional programs. She was responsible for assisting in business growth and aligning strategies to execution in various markets.

She also had the opportunity to work with Flash Entertainment, an experience in delivering large-scale international sports and entertainment events. Her job included Formula 1, UFC, athletics, tennis, football and big concerts events. The experience enabled her to gain an insight into the operational need of delivering large scale events across African and international markets.

In his message on the appointment, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, Founder and Executive Chairman of ACG, recalled the synergies between Aicha’s sports marketing background and his expertise in the creation of sports organisations in Africa.

“Aicha Diop has an authentic mix of continental sport marketing knowledge and experience of creation of a large-scale sport organisation from scratch in Africa on our Advisory Board.”

He added that Aicha’s role in the establishment of the Basketball Africa League is a very good lesson to learn for ACG's efforts and initiatives in sports and entertainment development in Africa.

The increasing significance of women leaders in sports is also reflected in Aicha’s professional history, notably in marketing, business development, event management, and audience management. Her extensive experience in various markets equips her with a wider understanding of the sports economy, which is relevant to Africa.

Aicha has a Master's degree in Sport & Lifestyle Management from the Rome Business School as well as a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

The appointment follows an increasing trend in commercial interest in sports in Africa which is providing opportunities for the experienced to bring their expertise in building sustainable sports business, sporting events and entertainment platforms to the continent.