{"id":54207,"date":"2025-05-18T09:32:30","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T09:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/kagame-nba-leaders-discuss-ongoing-partnership-and-africa-s-sports-future\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T16:00:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T16:00:55","slug":"kagame-nba-leaders-discuss-ongoing-partnership-and-africa-s-sports-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/kagame-nba-leaders-discuss-ongoing-partnership-and-africa-s-sports-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Kagame, NBA leaders discuss ongoing partnership and Africa\u2019s sports future"},"content":{"rendered":"

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 5th season of the BAL (BAL5) and brought together Clare Akamanzi, CEO of NBA Africa; Amadou Gallo Fall, BAL President; and Leah McNab, Head of International Operations for the NBA. <\/p>\n

Also in attendance were Rwanda\u2019s Sports Minister Nelly Mukazayire and Rwanda Development Board (RDB) CEO Jean-Guy Afrika.<\/p>\n

According to a statement from the presidency, their discussions centred on Rwanda\u2019s role in hosting the league\u2019s inaugural season and the rapid growth the BAL has experienced over the past four years.<\/p>\n

The leaders also explored the deepening partnership between Rwanda and the NBA, particularly in efforts to nurture basketball talent across the continent, as well as the broader economic opportunities that sports can unlock for Africa.<\/p>\n

Rwanda has become a key partner in the NBA\u2019s African expansion, with Kigali’s BK Arena serving as a regular host for BAL playoffs and finals under a multi-year agreement with the RDB. NBA Africa\u2019s engagement has also included grassroots court projects, youth clinics, and high-profile branding through the “Visit Rwanda” initiative.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the evening, President Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame joined a sold-out crowd at BK Arena for the opening of the 2025 BAL Nile Conference. The energy in the arena peaked as Rwanda\u2019s APR Basketball Club secured a resounding 92\u201363 victory over Kenya\u2019s Nairobi City Thunder, their first win in the weeklong tournament.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/figure>\n
\"Earlier<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"The<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Paul Kagame met with top NBA and Basketball Africa League (BAL) executives on Saturday evening to discuss Rwanda\u2019s growing role in advancing basketball and unlocking sports-driven development across Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000087394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000087394,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/grllhi3xmaaoe4znew.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/grllhi3xmaaoe4znew.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/grllhi3xmaaoe4znew.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/grllhi3xmaaoe4znew.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/grllhi3xmaaoe4znew.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/grllhi3xmaaoe4znew.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000087394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54207"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54207"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}