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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • NOVEMBER 26, 2016
TRAVEL&LEISURE
by OMOLOLA ITAYEMI omolola.itayemi@thisdaylive.com 08054699602
Adamu: Copa Lagos is Next Big Thing in Tourism
Samson Adamu is a director at Kinetic Sport Management and the Founder of Copa Lagos– an annual international beach tournament that takes place in Lagos. Adamu who studied at De Montfort University, Leicester, England is also one of a few Nigerians holding a Sports/FIFA Master’s degree. His passion for turning beach soccer into a household sport gave rise to Copa Lagos. He speaks with Omolola Itayemi about what to expect at this year’s edition and the need to take the sport to a higher level
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our company has been organizing the COPA Lagos for six years now. How did you come up with the idea, what is it about and when is it?
It’s a combination of a lot of things, a combination of my personal and professional background and what I do like personally as a hobby. I attended a university in Paris, I did a sports masters with FIFA and like any Nigerian kid, I’ve loved football from childhood. For me, studying business administration in school and wanting to combine what I did like and what I did study was a no brainer on coming back to Nigeria. Traditional football is saturated by a lot of things so I tried to be innovative with what I could do. I personally love the beach, that’s where I go to relax and find peace, apart from my Bible. So I thought beach soccer would be interesting. l researched what beach soccer was and how I could transform it into a business. During my research, I found out it’s great, its a new sport and wasn’t that present in Africa but i realised that with bringing something new into Africa you need to do more than just beach soccer, so I thought, what period is best to hold this competition, which is why it’s done in December during the festive season. I also realised Nigerians love fashion and music, so I had to find a way to incorporate all that with everything under one umbrella. That’s what you get in COPA Lagos. That’s the DNA of the event. The 2016 edition of the annual global beach soccer tournament, COPA Lagos, organized by Kinetic Sports will hold on 11th December at Eko Atlantic City. This year’s event will feature three matches namely, the Club Challenge between Enyimba FC and the Pepsi Football Academy, a Celebrity Match between Super Eagles Ex Internationals and popular Nigerian celebrities. The final game will be between the Nigerian beach soccer team, the Super Sand Eagles and the National beach soccer team of Switzerland, led by Dejan Stankovic, 2016’s beach top soccer scorer in the world, with 63 goals in 28 matches.
What were your goals for COPA Lagos at the beginning, and would you say that those objectives are being realized?
Ans: Absolutely! It’s way beyond my expectations in terms of what we planned. Since its inception in 2011, COPA Lagos has moved from being the first ever international beach soccer event in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa to being a prominent sporting event in the region. This is a testament to the fact that we are doing something good. But what is important is it is a business and we have a business plan for ten years and part of the plan when we started then was after five years, we should be able to host Africa beach Soccer Cup of Nations in Nigeria and this is coming at the 6th year. The plan also is that in the tenth year, we should be in a very good position to organise FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup and before that time, in the sixth year we will be able to start a viable Beach Soccer league in Nigeria and you can see from when we started two years ago by having a Club Challenge which is a new thing we added to COPALAGOS. We have the traditional football clubs like the Enyimba, Stationery Stores and other local leagyes have all played here. Part of the plan is for them to be exposed to beach soccer and play international clubs like FC Barcelona. We created that platform and now we have five to six soccer clubs, so it’s easier to start a league because we have the clubs.
that this is happening this year, it will not make sense to do three days of Copa Lagos and do a week of CAF Beach Soccer Cup of Nations, it will be too long and too much. So we have chosen one day for COPA LAGOS which is on the eve of CAF Beach Soccer Cup, sort of as a kick-off and a test. It is also helping the national team to prepare for the competition because the CAF competition is basically the African Cup for beach soccer. The team that wins it becomes the African champion and they also go to represent Africa at FIFA Beach Soccer Qualifier.
Sport is entertainment, a competitive activity but also entertainment for people at a certain time of the year. We also promote tourism. There is a huge movement that has been gathering serious momentum from inception. We have COPA LAGOS happening at the worst time economically in Nigeria and we are still getting sponsors, big ones like FCMB and Pepsi. It shows that there is something special in what we are doing and because more than ever, we have to move from one source of revenue to another. Tourism is the next big thing we are looking at for the country and COPA LAGOS falls right in that space bringing entertainment, sports, fashion, food, celebrities all under one roof.
Aside the main event, which is beach soccer competition, you have also added several other activities like a concert, a fashion show, an after party, a beach cleaning exercise, football clinic for kids and a cheerleading competition. Why the expansion?
This year’s edition of the tournament will be more exciting than the previous ones as organisers have diversified its scope beyond beach soccer games to include an experiential event for all participants and attendees amidst the multi-faceted activities to be enjoyed. The multi-dimensional focus was as a result of Kinetic Sports management’s desire to showcase and support the ever-increasing Nigerian music and entertainment Industry.
Should we expect these activities for the 2016 edition?
But, of course. As a prelude to COPA Lagos, Kinetic Sports has also lined up several interesting activities including a CSR event, tagged “Clean the Beach”, which is aimed at conserving the beach, encouraging cleanliness in the environment and preserving marine life. The exercise will involve over 200 people, including football players, sta, sponsors and other volunteers. A Beach Soccer Kids Clinic is part of the CSR activities of our event which is in line with what beach soccer foundation international is doing. The kids clinic is not something we privatise too much because its an opportunity to give kids from marginalised backgrounds to have a really good day. We are not trying to get professionals.
For this year’s fashion show, what should we expect, and who are the major designers?
Adamu
It’s a training and mentorship programme for kids in Lagos Stathe. The initiative will bring together over 150 kids between the ages of 8 and 14 years to the beach to play football with Beach Soccer Stars and Celebrity Players acting as coaches and will teach them the importance of sports for mental development and education. The exercise is in partnership with the Lagos State Sports Commission who will bring the kids from various schools in Lagos State. On Cheerleading Competition - this is the first time we are doing this. We are bringing European cheerleaders because they are professionals, so it’s good to show people how best it’s done. What we are trying to do this year is to do a competition where the European girls can train and possibly dance with the local dancers.
Previous editions of COPA Lagos have held over a three-day period, but we learnt that this year’s edition will be for a day. Why the change, and how do you intend to cram all these activities into one day?
So, its a great problem for us and like I told you earlier, part of the plan from inception is to host Africa Cup of Nations Beach Soccer. Now
We are doing something different this year for the fashion show. The slogan for COPALAGOS is its a lifestyle. The intent for the fashion show is to promote beach culture. This year as opposed to having different designers with different collection on the beach, we are having one beach show with different designers completing a whole outfit including accessories. Major designers include Kinabuti, Dapmode eyewear
Let’s talk a bit about the designs. Any specific criteria for the designers – will the show be Nigerian-themed or a mixture of local and international?
In the past we had local designers on the international scene but this year we are pushing made in Nigeria and supporting everything Nigerian. So all designers are local-based.
What about the concert and after-party, who will be performing?
For the after-party, we have the Guinness record holder, DJ Obi and top musicians.Also celebrities will be present to add colour to the day.
What does a concert like the one you are organizing at this year’s COPA Lagos mean for the Nigerian entertainment industry?
I think for me personally, it is a fantastic example of what the entertainment industry should look like. It successfully combines entertainment into one pot. It’s a melting pot of activities that covers fashion, sports, food, music and others. We have celebrity matches where sports meet entertainment seamlessly to the delight of the audience.
JUMIA Travel Celebrates Three Years Jumia Travel Nigeria recently celebrated its 3rd year of doing business in the country and also marked the second edition of its awards ceremony at Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island. A total of 28 Lagos hotels got awards under five categories - Customer Choice, Best Partner Hotel, Best Hotel Partner, Booking Award, and Rising Star Award. Managing Director, Jumia Travel Nigeria, Mr. Kushal Dutta, while explaining the rationale for the awards said: “These hotel awards celebrate greatest achievements and relationships that not only set the awardees apart, but also strive to create better service and experience for the guests. The objective is to appreciate outstanding performers while creating a dynamic platform for players to meet and interact.” Speaking on the performance of the company in the last 11 months, Dutta stated that investment in world-class technology that had improved customers’ experience on the company’s portal had been one of the greatest
achievements recorded so far. He made reference to the Web Progressive App (WPA) technology developed by the company which makes customers spend less time searching their hotels of choice. The technology, according to him, was showcased by Google at the Web Development event recently. “Our monthly traffic grew from 93,000 to 650,000 making Jumia Travel the largest online travel agency in the country.” he said. “In the last three years, Jumia Travel has provided an online platform for local hotels, ensuring that both small boutique properties as well as privately owned residences can now enjoy fair display and online presence as with global chains and renowned brands. “Paving and supporting the digitization process of hotels and the adoption of eCommerce has also been at the forefront of objectives set by the company, with 50% of its hotel partners making their online debut via the platform. “Among innovative solutions launched by
Jumia Travel include WEX virtual payment (a solution which allows hotels to easily receive payment from guests), various mobile-based payments, progressive web extranet, Live Chat, local languages and around-the-clock customer service.” This year marked the third anniversary of Jumia Travel, and the second edition of the company sponsored awards. The event also marks the launch of the ongoing legendary Black Friday sale, which as Kushal explains, comes early this year, to ensure travelers are able to make their holiday bookings without the last minute rush. Some of the winners of the Customer Choice Award included, Ikoyi Fairview Apartments; Apartment Royale Hotel & Suites; Jeromes Gardens & Suites; Bluespring Hotel; and Epe Resort. Winners of other categories included Ibis Hotel Ikeja; Park Inn by Radisson; Fahrenheit Loft; Eko Hotel & Suites; and Cumberland Hotel.