The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Right to Dreams Academy, Tom Vernon has stressed that it is important to invest in sports development in Africa.
According to him, the next Lionel Messi could be in Africa and might not get the opportunity if the necessary investments are not made.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Tom Vernon argued that talents must be molded into positive role models for the next generation to learn from.
“We have 14-year-olds in the Danish academy, for example, who have been going to the same bus stop for the past few years and seen the same homeless guy sat there. They decided to do something about that and invest in helping him get back on his feet.
“There is a good chance that the next Usain Bolt or Lionel Messi is in Africa and isn’t going to get the opportunities. There’s also a huge supporter base looking for those role models and wanting to get behind them… Africa’s population is increasingly massively, by 2050 there are going to be 2.2 billion Africans – a billion of them will be under 25. We need to provide positive role models for the continent to follow and aspire to,” Tom Vernon argued.
Through his Right to Dream Academy in Ghana, Tom Vernon has been able to train and change the lives of so many talents from Africa.
Notable among them are Mohammed Kudus, Simon Adingra, as well as Ernest Nuamah.