KIGALI, Rwanda, September 30, 2022/ — President of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), Amadou Gallo Fall, has won the ‘Sporting Excellence Award’ at the 13th Grow, Unite Build Africa (GUBA) Awards which took place September 29, 2022, at the Intare Conference Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.
In his acceptance speech, Amadou said “nothing in my journey prepared me for where I am today. This was not preordained – it was a quick succession of life events which led to my being here.”
Fall is a recipient of multiple leadership awards for his contributions to the growth of the game of basketball and youth development on the African continent, including New African’s 100 Most Influential Africans (2019), the South African Sport Industry’s Leadership in Sport (2018) and African Leader 4 Change (2017).
Fall is also the Founder of SEED (Sports for Education and Economic Development), a global non-profit organization established in 1998 with the mission of using sport as a vehicle to inspire, empower and support the holistic development of promising African youth, preparing them to become global citizens.
Amadou Fall, who is a Senegalese, was instrumental in the establishment of the Basketball Africa League for the continent. The Basketball Africa League is Africa’s premier men’s basketball league. The league consists of twelve club teams across the continent.
As President of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), Amadou Gallo Fall led the historic league’s launch in May 2021 and defines its vision and strategy for years to come. Fall oversees the league’s business and basketball operations, leading its efforts to build a comprehensive basketball ecosystem in Africa.
The expanded second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) concluded last May in Kigali, with Tunisia’s US Monastir crowned the second BAL champion. For the second season, 38 games were played in three iconic African cities over three months: Dakar, Senegal, Cairo, Egypt and Kigali, Rwanda. The caravan format envisioned when the league was launched allowed more fans to experience the excitement of the BAL up close and in-person, culminating with a sold-out crowd of 10,000 at the 2022 BAL Finals.
Fall noted that “the second BAL season further demonstrated that sports and entertainment can be an economic growth engine in Africa and help propel African economies into a new age of prosperity.”
This year’s GUBA Awards on the theme, ‘Ndabaga – Drumbeat of Dreamers and Legends’ seeks to celebrate historical heroes within the Rwandan and African communities. With the chosen theme, the Awards strive to convey the power of determination and focus. The story of Ndabaga is a keystone of Rwandan folklore representing bravery and determination.
Designed to highlight the most inspirational and trailblazing individuals within Africa and its diaspora community, the GUBA Awards continue to gain endorsements from high-profile figures such as H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo (President of Ghana), H.E Jean-Claude Kassi Brou (The President of the ECOWAS Commission) and more.
