{"id":55044,"date":"2025-07-28T20:53:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T20:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/president-kagame-urges-youth-to-seize-opportunities-as-zaria-court-is\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T10:21:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T10:21:06","slug":"president-kagame-urges-youth-to-seize-opportunities-as-zaria-court-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/president-kagame-urges-youth-to-seize-opportunities-as-zaria-court-is\/","title":{"rendered":"President Kagame urges youth to seize opportunities as Zaria Court is inaugurated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking during the official launch of the facility in a question-and-answer session with Masai Ujiri, co-founder of Giants of Africa and the driving force behind the Zaria Court concept, President Kagame emphasised the power of enabling environments and investing in youth potential as keys to Africa\u2019s transformation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my mind, thinking about the youth of Africa, I don\u2019t think about borders,\u201d Kagame said. \u201cWe need to make sure that everything we do translates their hidden potential into reality. The youth are the first asset the continent has.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President<\/figure>\n

The inauguration ceremony, held on the sidelines of the ongoing Giants of Africa Festival 2025 in Kigali, drew African business leaders, creatives, sports icons, and youth from across the continent. Among them was Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, whom Ujiri praised for championing the African Renaissance initiative aimed at galvanising leadership and economic transformation across Africa.<\/p>\n

Construction of Zaria Court Kigali began in August 2023, with President Kagame and Ujiri breaking ground on what was envisioned to be the first of several such hubs across Africa. <\/p>\n

The complex now stands complete, featuring an 80-room hotel, multiple restaurants, a rooftop lounge, a gym, co-working spaces, a podcast studio, a broadcast centre, and a large multipurpose arena for sports, concerts, and cultural events.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Outside, the facility includes five-a-side football pitches, a callisthenics area, children\u2019s play zones, and open green spaces. A modular retail park, built from stacked shipping containers, provides affordable space for Kigali\u2019s rising designers, food vendors, and small business owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is more than a building,\u201d Ujiri said. \u201cIt\u2019s an ecosystem. It creates community. It creates value. It shapes economies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Outside,<\/figure>\n

In the heartfelt conversation with Ujiri, President Kagame shared his personal reflections on sports and leadership, admitting he was never an athlete himself but always saw the value in creating platforms for others to thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t a sportsman by any standard,\u201d Kagame said. \u201cBut I was a sportsman at heart, and often thought about what I missed. If I can enable those who can do more and benefit the whole country, then I\u2019m the happiest person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President<\/figure>\n

He also spoke to the economic impact of sports, pointing to Rwanda\u2019s own experience with the BK Arena and other investments as proof that sports can be a serious contributor to national development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is no longer just about the future. It\u2019s already happening,\u201d Kagame emphasised. \u201cStatistics show that even across Africa, sports can bring in billions to the continent. So, it\u2019s not just a story anymore. The question is whether we choose to be part of reaping those benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ujiri, visibly passionate, challenged African governments and private sectors to stop viewing sports as merely recreational and instead recognise it as a business and a growth engine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to sit down and just let this happen anymore,\u201d declared the former basketball player and president of the Toronto Raptors. \u201cThis is a template for Africa, an ecosystem that works. It brings people together. It builds community. And it creates real value.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Masai<\/figure>\n

He further highlighted how Zaria Court, from design to execution, was a response to the lack of sustained investment in sports infrastructure across African cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Africa, we have stadiums right in the middle of the city, and they\u2019re all destroyed. They were built 50 years ago with no vision. We paint them before competitions, then leave them to rot. We won\u2019t accept that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

With plans to replicate the Zaria Court model in cities like Accra, Lagos, Dakar, Johannesburg, and Nairobi, Kigali\u2019s success story is expected to serve as a catalyst for more sports-driven urban development across Africa.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/figure>\n

During the event, NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi underscored the economic potential of sports, stressing that nations sidelining it risk falling behind in development. <\/p>\n

\u201cSports should be an economic priority for every country. If you’re not putting sports at the centre of your economic growth, then you’re already playing from behind,” she declared.<\/p>\n

Echoing this, Amadou Gallo Fall, President of the Basketball Africa League, said the progress seen in Rwanda affirms the possibility of building a world-class professional basketball league on the continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gives us confidence that we can build one of the best professional basketball leagues in the world, right here in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Paul Kagame called on Africa\u2019s youth to believe in themselves and actively seize the continent\u2019s growing opportunities, as he officially inaugurated Zaria Court Kigali, a $25 million world-class sports and lifestyle complex, on Monday, July 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000091674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-55044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-featured-news-home","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":2000091674,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gw9ekdbxsaa5cvtlogo.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gw9ekdbxsaa5cvtlogo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gw9ekdbxsaa5cvtlogo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gw9ekdbxsaa5cvtlogo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gw9ekdbxsaa5cvtlogo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/gw9ekdbxsaa5cvtlogo.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55044","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=55044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000091674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55044"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=55044"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=55044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}