African Collaborations Group (ACG) (www.ACGafrica.com), the leading strategic project origination and collaboration platform focused on the industrialisation of sport in Africa through the origination of bankable sport and entertainment district ecosystems, today announced the publication of an in-depth interview with its CEO, Paulo J. Cruz, on Africa.com, one of the continent’s leading digital news and information platforms.
Read the full interview: https://apo-opa.co/4jaK4ty
In the interview, Cruz draws on 28 years of infrastructure origination experience across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, most recently as Senior Vice President at DAMAC Group, to set out why Africa’s sport economy cannot grow without a fundamentally different infrastructure model.
“Africa has invested billions in standalone, football-only stadiums that on average are used fewer than 25 days a year,” Cruz told Africa.com. “They drain public budgets instead of generating revenue. That model has failed.”
Cruz describes the alternative: integrated sport and entertainment districts combining 15 to 20 asset types within a single masterplanned development, designed to generate diversified revenue 365 days a year. “When there is no conference, there is a concert. When the stadium is quiet, the hotels, training academies, restaurants, and commercial tenants are operating. Revenue flows every day from multiple sources. That diversification is what makes the model financially self-sustaining.”
The interview addresses the structural gap that has prevented sport infrastructure projects from reaching financial close in Africa. “A financial institution finances projects; it does not originate them,” Cruz explains. “A government sets the mandate and provides the enabling environment; it does not typically have the technical capacity to structure a bankable project. Everyone is waiting for a project to arrive in a form they can work with. The origination layer has been missing.”
On the social and economic impact, Cruz is direct: “The permanent jobs come from operations: hotel staff, restaurant workers, retail employees, facility managers, event coordinators, sports coaches, physiotherapists, broadcast technicians, media producers, conference organisers, and commercial office tenants who employ their own teams. These are not temporary construction jobs. They are permanent positions in a permanent urban economy.”
Cruz also addresses the risks: “The challenges are real. PPP frameworks vary significantly across African jurisdictions, and land tenure can be complex. Currency risk, political risk, and regulatory uncertainty all affect investor appetite. These are not reasons not to proceed; they are reasons why the origination process must be rigorous. A feasibility study that does not address these risks honestly is not worth the paper it is written on.”
The interview concludes with Cruz’s vision for what success looks like: “If, in ten years, an African city has a district where a young person can train as an athlete in the morning, have lunch at a restaurant, study in the afternoon, attend a world-class concert in the evening and walk into a nightclub afterwards, all within the same district, and that district is paying for itself, then the model has worked.”
In 2022, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard was appointed to the FIFA Task Force for Infrastructure Development in Africa and mandated by FIFA President Gianni Infantino to develop a new model for sport infrastructure on the continent. He founded African Collaborations Group (ACG) to deliver it. Its CEO, Paulo J. Cruz, brings 28 years of infrastructure origination experience across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, most recently as Senior Vice President at DAMAC Group (USD 9.8 billion in sales in 2025). Its 28-member Advisory Board includes former FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura, former World Bank Executive Director Paulo Gomes, the Co-Founder of the World Football Summit Jan Alessie, the President of Rugby Africa and Executive Board Member of World Rugby Herbert Mensah, and leaders from across global sport governance, international finance, infrastructure, media, broadcasting, and entertainment.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Collaborations Group (ACG).
Media contact:
marie@apo-opa.com
About African Collaborations Group (ACG):
African Collaborations Group (ACG) (www.ACGafrica.com) is the leading strategic project origination and collaboration platform focused on the industrialisation of sport in Africa through the origination of bankable sport and entertainment district ecosystems. By convening governments, private-sector partners, development finance institutions, sport and entertainment stakeholders, and academic institutions, ACG creates structured pathways that transform concepts into investable and deliverable district projects across the continent.