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 appointment of Clare Barrell to its Advisory Board.
Ms Barrell serves as Director of International Relations and Member Services at World Rugby, the global governing body of the sport. In this role, she oversees World Rugby’s institutional engagement with its network of member unions and regional associations across the world, and is responsible for shaping and delivering the framework that connects World Rugby’s central administration to the national federations that constitute it.
Her portfolio encompasses the strategic management of World Rugby’s relationships with member unions and the six regional associations (Rugby Africa, Rugby Europe, Asia Rugby, Rugby Americas North, Sudamérica Rugby and Oceania Rugby); the coordination of investment flows into member unions and regions to support the development of the sport at national and regional level; the oversight of investment governance standards, member services and institutional support to member unions; the delivery of World Rugby’s development, capacity-building and technical assistance programmes; and the diplomatic engagement between World Rugby and governments, ministries of sport, international sport bodies and event stakeholders around the world.
Prior to joining World Rugby, Ms Barrell held senior positions at UK Sport, the United Kingdom’s high-performance sport agency responsible for investing government and lottery funding into Olympic and Paralympic sport, and for delivering international sport development programmes. In this capacity, she led the delivery of sport development and diplomacy programmes in more than 40 countries, with extensive experience across the African continent, bringing to her current role a rare depth of field-level experience across a wide range of national contexts, governance environments and development challenges.
Her appointment to the ACG Advisory Board brings to the platform an exceptional depth of expertise in the strategy, diplomacy and governance dimensions of international sport, together with the operational experience of designing and delivering sport development programmes across dozens of countries — capabilities directly relevant to originating and structuring large-scale sport and entertainment district projects across the African continent, where the interface between global governing bodies, national federations, governments and development finance institutions is decisive.
“Clare Barrell brings to our Advisory Board a genuinely unique combination of global sport governance expertise, hands-on international development experience, and diplomatic capability. Her role at World Rugby places her at the intersection of the institutional, investment and governance dimensions of the sport, and her prior work delivering programmes in over 40 countries gives her a depth of on-the-ground insight that is exceptionally valuable to ACG as we originate sport and entertainment district projects across the African continent. Her presence on our Advisory Board is a significant asset to the platform,” said Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard (www.Pompigne-Mognard.com), Founder and Executive Chairman of ACG.
The ACG Advisory Board provides strategic guidance as ACG originates and structures large-scale sport and entertainment district projects across the continent, aligning governments, development finance institutions (DFIs), investors, sport bodies and infrastructure partners to support the development of financially sustainable, mixed-use district ecosystems.
Africa’s sport economy is projected to reach $20 billion by 2035, yet the continent continues to lack the integrated district ecosystems required to support large-scale development. ACG addresses this gap by originating bankable sport and entertainment district projects, moving beyond single-venue development models towards mixed-use, revenue-generating and financially sustainable district ecosystems.
Through its collaborative model, ACG convenes governments, PPP authorities and regulators, development finance institutions, private investors, developers, designers and engineers, legal and transaction advisors, operators, sport federations and leagues, event promoters, media and broadcast partners, academic institutions and host communities, creating structured pathways from concept to feasibility, bankability and delivery.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Collaborations Group (ACG).
Media contact:
[email protected]
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.
© Bold Sports Media. All rights reserved. If sharing, kindly credit Bold Sports as the source and include a link to the original post. Unauthorised use is prohibited.
