Africa on the Ball

Here's a chance to use your marketing skills to help Africa on the Ball transform the lives of the Kalingalinga community with Pimp My Cause.

Africa on the Ball is a non-profit organisation that uses the power of football for community development in deprived areas of Africa. They currently work in Lusaka, Zambia sponsoring an under 18's football team, supporting the players' education and helping to develop the community as a whole through volunteering, litter collection and HIV prevention training.

Africa on the Ball has been working with Pimp My Cause marketing volunteers for the last year to develop a new website and a crowd funding campaign. They are raising funds to buy a community bus that will transport their team to away matches and become a sustainable funding source for the whole community. Maverick Digital generously developed their beautiful new website and created this animated video (shown below) to inspire donations for their buy-a-community-bus campaign on Indiegogo (running for the next four months).

Africa on the Ball understands the power of marketing and would love to benefit from your advice and support in developing new strategies to fulfil their mission and support their work. If you are interested in supporting their marketing efforts contact Anna Mullenneaux, Chief Match Maker of Pimp My Cause.

The story of Africa on the Ball

Africa on the Ball was started in 2011 by Andrew Jenkin and Elena Sarra. Following several trips to Lusaka through UKSport’s IDEAL project, Andrew was inspired to develop a model which could help communities through football and the power it holds within African society and culture.

It began with the sponsorship of a football team in Lusaka, Zambia, which led to a sponsorship program for members of the team unable to afford fees to go to school and development projects for the team members to give back to their community. Players are entitled to apply for educational benefits such as tuition fees in exchange for managing an aspect of the community development scheme. For example, Mavuto Mbewe could no longer afford to attend school following the death of his parents, but Africa on the Ball stepped in to fund his education and in exchange he is managing the Litter Picking duties around Kalingalinga and is responsible for developing that aspect of the project.

Although Africa on the Ball only currently works in Kalingalinga in Lusaka, Zambia, it aims to develop a successful development model, which could be replicated in other communities around Africa. Could your marketing insights help unlock this exciting potential?

Read more about The Marketing Society's Marketing for Good Initiative and our partnership with Pimp My Cause.