‘People need to learn how to fish, rather than being given the fish’: Mensah talks business

BY SPORTSCAST WRITER

JOHANNESBURG – A raft of measures, to turn around the finances of rugby on the continent, are well underway under the stewardship of Rugby Africa president Herbert Mensah.

Delivering a message last week as the year comes to an end, Ghanaian entrepreneur Mensah emphasised the need for a mindset change on the continent for rugby to attract major investment and achieve financial independence.

“Anybody who knows me well enough will understand that I have one major passion when it comes to sport, and I do love sport,” Mensah said in a recorded video.

“I try to watch virtually every sport, to understand what it takes to win – you win on the field and win off the field. And I try to explain to people who are too passionate about one thing, that if you can’t win off the field, you can’t possibly win on the field. That is the business of sports. Sitting on the Executive Board of World Rugby, we are now in my world – where Brett (Robinson; World Rugby chairman), the senior management team along with my members of the EB, we’ve decided that critically people need to learn how to fish, rather than being given the fish. And I’ve always believed that to the basis on which sports development can really grow.”

Mensah explained a new model to expand rugby’s reach, in doing so attracting investments from new markets.

“We now have a strategic plan approved by 50 votes to zero at a Council AGM in the United Kingdom,” he said.

“A thrust of it says we are going to invest in the American market in order to raise enough money to redistribute, that we will be able (to do) in the 2031, 2033, that sort of period. That may not help us in Africa today, we in Africa need to be able to look for investment in a way that makes greater sense. And in the last two years those who have been closer enough to Africa will understand that we’ve put together some of the most extraordinary tournaments and we’ve done it on the model that has been asked by World Rugby. Of course, there are people who don’t want change, I’m sorry I can’t help them because once you are dealing with me, it’s all about change. Look, today’s decisions must determine what happens tomorrow.

“For myself as an ex-rugby player, it’s critical therefore that we have money to play Fifteens rugby every year. If we simply rely on what is budgeted, they won’t be Fifteens rugby in 2026 and no Fifteens rugby in 2029 or 2030. The model we are putting together will make sure that there is money available for Fifteens rugby in every year that we play. Sevens rugby is a lot easier. We will regionalise it. Of course, for some reasons we have too many powerhouses in those regions, but we are going to create a model that ensures that there is play time across the board.”

Mensah also revealed that Africa’s world rugby power South Africa have again pledged to boost the growth

of the sport across the rest of the continent by providing competition and greater participation.

 This support by South Africa stems from the encouraging increase of competition throughout Africa in the Fifteens game by emerging rugby nations.

“To the point that my dear big brother, that is Mark Alexander (SA Rugby president), is also offering to come to the table and we have a South Africa Counties XVs playing either an Africa Leopards XVs or probably depending on hosting, a Ugandan-Kenyan structure,” Mensah said, adding:

“We are working deals with airlines; we are trying to reduce costs. Kevin Venkiah (Mauritius’s rugby union president) is trying to get deals with Air Mauritius so that the cost of playing in Mauritius is hugely discounted.  There is a team that is coming together, that is working very strongly at raising money, reducing costs. The business of sport is quite simple, we have to win off the field, to win on the field. My flywheel includes government, business, sponsors and stakeholders all coming together. Some get it, others don’t, but this is the plan that is being put in place.”