Esports Sponsorship, Investment, and Merchandising

Our guests are Trev Keane, Director Esports Strategy: EPIC Global and Advisor/Judge at Stadia Ventures, and Cholwe Shabukali, Co- Founder and Managing Director at Team Gematrix and a Zambian Esports Pioneer.

Our discussion includes:

Cholwe’s background including how being selected for an accelerator program at BongoHive started her on turning a passion into a business.

Trev’s background recalling how “games were part of our lives” as he grew up in Ireland.

Sponsorship

• Cultural barriers impacting women in Africa joining the esports industry
• “How do you eat an elephant?”
• What is a “challenger brand” and a “hero brand” in sponsorship?
• Discovering where the brands are on their esports journey
• The value of working with sponsorship agencies

Sponsorship Timeframe

• What does the typical timeframe look like for a sponsorship deal?
• Be patient: “Your urgency is not their urgency”
• Understanding brand budgeting cycles

Investment

• What sources of investment are most common in Europe and Africa
• The number one piece of advice: “Understand your value”
• Investigate accelerators in your market for business advice as well as for potential investors
• Understand your community and bring that awareness to potential investors

Merchandising

• How to develop a merchandising plan with the right objectives: fun and value
• Community driven input in your merchandising program

Last words

• Trev: “Think long term.”
• Cholwe: “Be aggressively patient.”

Episode Webpage: https://www.gamerschangelivespodcast.com/esports-sponsorship-investment-and-merchandising-with-cholwe-shabukali-and-trev-keane

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FEATURED IN THIS EPISDOE:

Trev Keane, Director Esports Strategy: EPIC Global and Advisor/Judge at Stadia Ventures.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevkeane/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/trevkeane

EPIC Global: https://www.linkedin.com/company/epic-global-agency-esports-gaming/

Stadia Ventures: http://www.stadiaventures.com/

Cholwe Shabukali is co-owner and managing director of Team Gematrix, Zambia's pioneer esports organization, her organization has a record of multiple sub-Saharan African championships and presence across 3 continents.

She was listed as the top 100 game changers by unreal engine in 2020. She is also the current interim Secretary General for the Esports Federation of Zambia.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cholwe-shabukali-26b780143/

Team Gematrix: https://gematrix.co/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Elen_Cholwe

BongoHive: https://bongohive.co.zm/

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PRODUCTION:

Creator and host: Tom Leonard (USA) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomeleonard/

Producer: Reginald Nsowah (Ghana) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/reginald-nsowah-09352929/ 

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Play Games. Create Jobs. Change Lives.

This is a show about how to build an esports business from literally anywhere in the world where each week we showcase the journey of esports entrepreneurs and others to learn how they solved a particular problem that everyone will ultimately face.

In Season Two our theme is “Follow the Money”.

I am your host, Tom Leonard. I have a background in entertainment marketing. After working with many amazing esports entrepreneurs from emerging markets, they inspired me to create a show to tell their stories so that others can be motivated to create their own esports business. Gaming and esports can create jobs tackling the problem of global youth unemployment. Creating jobs from playing games. What could be better than that?

Thanks for listening to The Gamers Change Lives Podcast!