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 Jan Alessie to its Advisory Board.
Mr Alessie is Co-Founder and Managing Director of the World Football Summit (WFS), which he founded in Madrid in 2016 alongside Marian Otamendi. Now in its tenth year, WFS has grown into the leading global convening platform for the football industry, connecting club executives, federations, leagues, sponsors, media, technology providers, investors and public authorities across the ecosystem.
Under Mr Alessie’s leadership, WFS has hosted more than 30 events in 11 countries, built a network of over 150,000 industry members, and expanded its footprint across Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Its 2026 global series includes WFS Mexico City (June 2026, gathering more than 1,700 professionals from 43 countries ahead of the FIFA World Cup), the 10th Anniversary Edition of WFS Madrid (September 2026), and WFS Riyadh, reflecting the platform’s positioning at the intersection of regional football markets and the global industry.
At WFS, Mr Alessie works directly with major brands and sports organisations to bring them into the platform’s events, manages relationships with local partners and public administrations in each region where WFS operates, and leads the international expansion of the platform — analysing markets, evaluating opportunities, and deciding where and how to grow. His work sits at the intersection of commercial partnership development, institutional relationship management, and geographic and strategic expansion.
Prior to co-founding WFS, Mr Alessie spent 18 years as a consultant and strategic advisor, bringing to his current role a rare depth of analytical, commercial and strategic experience that shaped his approach to building WFS as a global platform.
His appointment to the ACG Advisory Board brings to the platform an unmatched combination of expertise in convening the global sport industry, structuring international expansion strategies, and managing the interface between commercial stakeholders, sport bodies and public institutions across multiple regions and continents — capabilities directly relevant to originating and structuring large-scale sport and entertainment district projects across the African continent.
“Jan Alessie has built one of the most respected global platforms in world sport. Over a decade, he has demonstrated exactly what it takes to originate, structure and scale a convening platform that connects commercial actors, sport institutions and public authorities across markets and continents. That is precisely the analytical, commercial and diplomatic capability ACG requires as we originate sport and entertainment district projects across Africa. His presence on our Advisory Board significantly strengthens the depth of expertise we are assembling around ACG,” 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).
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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.
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