Football Venture Kicks Off

Craig Hepburn was one of the first white footballers to play for the Pirates football team in South Africa. With over 45 years’ experience as a professional player, he has taken his lifetime’s passion and experience, brought it to undeveloped communities as a business and used both to cultivate the local skills and financial growth.

Not only a great sportsman, but also a diligent entrepreneur and businessman with a pronounced social conscience he started the African Brother’s Football Academy, making it his objective to address socio-economic challenges primarily by creating jobs and economic opportunity. His vision was to “take people from the communities and coach them how to coach so they could also have an impact on the community; football change and social change.”

The man has an incredible drive and energy so it is no surprise that what was initially an academy that would take people from underprivileged communities and teach them to coach football, has now flourished into a thriving training academy that aims to meet international standards and has members’ coaches and players of all groups and ages.

It was not all easy, and along the way, Hepburn looked for help and support as although he has an indubitable dynamism and football experience, he realized he was lacking finance skills, the backbone of the business.  Thus, willing to ensure that African Brother’s Football Academy became a sustainable business, Hepburn sought the advice and assistance of Bid Network, an organisation that offers support to business start-ups in their beginning stages of development. In order to be achieving sustainability an enterprise needs to ensure it has no negative impact on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy. The organisation prepares the companies of entrepreneurs like Hepburn to appear attractive and presentable to investors. Through consultancy and advice they help entrepreneurs that might be talented and experienced people in their field, but not as businessmen, to understand certain things that will help them progress.

There is still a lot of work to be done throughout the country, and Hepburn is pointing out that for a country that was an incredible host to the Football World Cup, it is not acceptable that some kids still don’t have access to proper training facilities. Thanks to the African Brother’s Football Academy, this might very well change in the future.  Africa Report.