With facilities like BK Arena, even the sky won't limit our youth

Rwanda on Wednesday, December 6, hosted an electrifying musical concert that was headlined by multi-talented and chart-topping American rapper, Kendrick Lamar. The concert marked the beginning of a continent-wide Move Afrika tour that will see similar acts organised in different countries on the continent. ALSO READ: Kagame: Move Afrika concert a good way to end 2023 Move Afrika is a five-year campaign that aims to promote health and equity, defend the planet, and create jobs and economic opportunity. According to organisers, despite the concert happening in the middle of the week, it was sold out and attracted revellers dominated by the youth not just from Rwanda, but also across the region. ALSO READ: Unleashing the Kendrick Spirit: Lessons for Rwandan artistes The event alone created direct employment for over 1,000 people, mainly young people, the organisers said, not to mention other opportunities that came with it; be it in the hospitality industry, mobility services among others. The highly-billed concert is one of the many star-studded events held at the same venue; BK Arena that have attracted thousands from far and wide, like the just-concluded Trace Awards and Festival and the Giants of Africa Festival. All these happened this year. ALSO READ: How will Rwanda benefit from hosting Trace Awards and Festival? Other highly attended events that have been held at the BK Arena included the BAL finals that have been held here back-to-back for three years among other international and continental basketball and volleyball tournaments. All this is an indication of a worthwhile investment and a demonstration of a visionary leadership. With this facility, we are not only positioning the country as a global destination for sports activities, but also entertainment events. Besides the economic impact that comes with hosting such activities, they have also been crucial in boosting our sports and entertainment sectors by giving our youthful talents a platform with international starts whom they only watched on television few years back. For instance, the past three musical concerts that were held here had our local artistes share stage with renowned musicians and some of them are already reaping the benefits through collaborations with global stars and clearly there is much to come. With the upgraded Amahoro National Stadium, which is nearly complete, there is no doubt that similar benefits will be reaped from our youth who want to pursue a career in football. For them, the added advantage are the landmark deals that government signed with some of the most popular football clubs in the world which have a component of development of local talent. The hope is to have more of such facilities even beyond Kigali to spread the benefits.

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With facilities like BK Arena, even the sky won't limit our youth