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WorldRemit’ll develop sports in Africa –Mujakachi

Pardon Mujakachi, the Head of Southern Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria & Ghana, WorldRemit, in this interview said the current programme organised by the organisation for coaches was a way of developing their immediate community. He spoke to CHARLES OGUNDIYA. Excerpts…

 

What is the Arsenal and WorldRemit Future Stars Coaching programme about?

Future Stars is a programme developed by WorldRemit and Arsenal Football Club to recognise and reward the hard work of youth community football coaches. One successful applicant will fly to London, where he will attend an exclusive training camp with Arsenal Soccer Schools coaches. During the camp they will work together with the Soccer Schools coaches on plans to use this training to build a lasting legacy in their home country. The programme has already granted Arsenal replica shirts to over 500 kids whose coaches were shortlisted for the programme by the judging panel.

Why did WorldRemit – a digital money transfer company – partner with Arsenal for a football coaching competition?

When creating this programme, we wanted to focus on the people who bring the community together. As WorldRemit is an official partner of Arsenal, we have unique access to leaders in the field of football, so football coaches seemed to be a natural place to start.

What does this programme aim to achieve?

Our business is all about helping our customers to support those they care about and we believe we should follow their example. As the official online money transfer partner for Arsenal, we had a unique opportunity to give something back. We know nothing brings a community together like football. So, this is a great chance to recognise and reward the people using the power of football to help their communities.

Could you provide additional insights on the selection process and the criteria used to select the finalists?

Applications to Future Stars opened in August and we received over 700 applications in a single week. These were all assessed and a panel of judges from WorldRemit and Arsenal selected the top 25 against various criteria which includes the following in their community; the commitment of the coach, the impact the coach has had on young people, the strength of the coach’s proposal to pass on their training on their return home. This shortlist of 25 coaches are being rewarded with Arsenal replica shirts for their entire squad. Six Nigerian coaches made this shortlist. From this shortlist of 25, the judging panel have now selected the top six coaches as finalists including Adegun Shola John from Lagos.The winner was chosen by a public vote on www.futurestars.worldremit. com with voting starting between September 28 and October 5.

Tell us about the Nigerian finalist, why he was chosen, and other five finalists?

He has been a community coach for girls and boys in the Bariga, Surulere and Oworonshoki areas of Lagos for three years. He is motivated to lead fun training sessions, helping young people unlock their passion for football. The judging panel was impressed by Adegun’s passion for coaching and commitment to improving the lives of young people within his community. They were also impressed by his dedication to building on this positive social impact. The other finalists are from Ghana, Kenya, Somalia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Whilst they differ in their gender, age, the size of their academies and their years of coaching experience, what they all have in common is that they are using football to address social challenges in their community.

Do you see the Future Stars training programme will contributing to the growth of football in Nigeria and Africa?

Like these coaches, our customers are already making a valuable contribution to their communities. Our role in this is to help their money to go further. This programme reflects the same approach, but here football is the currency being used to support the community. Football is already a universal language in Africa, so our focus is on how best to use it to help the society.

What are the plans for the coaching programme and are we hoping to see other editions?

This is just one in a series of programmes we hope to run like this with Arsenal and we are working with them on plans for more activities and events in Africa in the coming months. We have already run a local community team coaching clinic in Zimbabwe along with competitions to watch Arsenal play in London. As this is the first time we have launched a programme like this, naturally we need to evaluate it carefully, before we determine the longer – term plans, but the response has been very positive and we are already discussing how we can build on this further with Arsenal. Our partners in Africa have also been very supportive and Fidelity Bank in particular has also helped to promote the programme in Nigeria. The immediate plans are that the winning coach will come to London to train with Arsenal Soccer Schools coaches. Together they will work on plans to build a lasting legacy in the winners’ country.

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