Why Valencia?

Because it’s an ancient city, and one with years of expertise, with people who’ve got what it takes to bring development to Ghana, people with Global Vision and that human touch that can help cement a good and lasting relationship.

That was the answer of Francis Adjetey Sowah, CEO of African Dynamics based in Accra Sports Stadium, to the query as to why his company had chosen to work with the Valencian based companies Zemac, run by Javier Cabello and Fernando Gomez (the ex Valencia FC and Spanish international footballer), and GBS run by an entrepreneur with decades of experience in the construction industry and previously General Secretary of the Valencian construction federation FEVEC.

Mister Adjetey was in Valencia accompanied by the Deputy Minister for Youth and Sport Joseph Yammin, confirming their previous impressions that a joint venture with experienced Valencian sports and leisure and construction experts was the way forward to developing a series of sports facilities and projects of both a short and long term nature.

The project consists of the building and running of sports complexes which would give an opportunity to the youth of Ghana to develop their potential under the nurturing eyes of professionals trained by their European partners.

Partnership and trust are the keys to the projects under discussion, and the discussions are being followed by both the Ghana ambassador in Madrid, Michael Banahene and the Foreign Minister Ms. Hannah Tetteh. The government is the fulcrum of the project according to Mister Adjetey, who foresaw a short term plan cming to fruition within two years and a longer term one in 5.

Inevitably football is the main sport, and one that has exploded in Africa in recent years, with African players increasingly causing a stir in European leagues with players such as Keita from Mali, who recently signed for Valencia FC after some successful years at Barcelona FC. Nevertheless, volleyball and hockey were also mentioned by Mister Adjetey as sports which had a promising future in his country.

The plans and projects offered to their Ghana partners by Zemec and GBS were described by him as “overwhelming”, and he said he was looking forwards to a mutually rewarding relationship involving both the public and private sectors.

The idea of the venture would be not only to train sports men and women, but also other professionals such as coaches, referees and physiotherapists.

Mister Adjetey’s own vision of the project was not merely a business one nor even a perspective from a leisure industry point of view, but a humanistic and moral approach, as he emphasized, to energise a development in Ghana that will bring hope to the vulnerable, hoping that the stakeholders would receive the mercy and grace necessary o achieve their goals.