The Game Before the Glory (December 17th) – Why a Football Match Matters More Than You’d Think
December 17th. One day before forty entrepreneurs graduate. One day before the ceremony that will mark five months of relentless work, learning, growth, and transformation at the Bo Hub on 27 Jaka Street. One day before these entrepreneurs showcase the four MVP businesses they’ve already launched.
Most programs would spend this day in final preparation mode. Last-minute logistics. Nervous energy. Triple-checking details.
The Global Impact Innovators team in Bo had different plans: play football.
Not as a distraction. Not as a break from the “real work.” But because sometimes the most important thing you can do for a community is remind them—and yourself—that work and joy aren’t opposites. They’re partners.
A Friendly Match With Real Community Stakes
The GII team faced off against two Bo institutions in friendly matches: Young Single Adult (YSA) and Bo Centre for Technical Studies.
There’s beautiful symmetry here. Bo Centre for Technical Studies isn’t just another organization—it’s one of the eight schools the team visits every week. They were there on December 15th, checking on the progress of 46 students and 1 teacher. And now, on December 17th, they’re meeting on the field not as trainers and trainees, but as equals. As competitors. As community.
YSA brought their own energy—young adults from Bo showing up to play, to compete, to be part of what’s happening in their community.
No trophy. No prize money. Just teams, one field, and the kind of competitive energy that makes you forget you’re tired from cleaning Care and Cure Hospital and painting Rosal International Academy two days before.
Football as Language
Football in Sierra Leone isn’t just a sport. It’s culture. It’s how communities come together. It’s how strangers become friends. It’s how tensions dissolve and connections form. When you play football with someone, you’re not networking—you’re building real relationship.
So when the GII team took the field against YSA and Bo Centre for Technical Studies, they weren’t just representing themselves. They were representing the forty entrepreneurs who’d spent five months learning at the hub—entrepreneurs who are now building four real MVP businesses. The 368 students at eight schools who’d touched computers for the first time under their guidance. The eight teachers learning alongside their pupils. The eight schools—UMC Primary, Kakua Government JSS, Aladura JSS, Bo Center For Technical Studies, Bilal Islamic, Al Ghadafi, Rosal International, Mountain of Grace—that opened their doors week after week. The community that had said: teach us.
What Happens When You Stop Performing and Start Living
For five months, Jeremiah and his team have been in execution mode. Training sessions at the hub with forty entrepreneurs who are now building businesses. Weekly visits to eight different schools across Bo to train 368 students and 8 teachers. Problem-solving. Adapting curriculum. Meeting with five government offices. Visiting families. Cleaning Care and Cure Hospital. Painting Rosal International Academy.
That’s exhausting. Even when you love the work, relentless focus takes a toll.
December 17th was permission to be human. To laugh. To compete. To trash-talk in the way that only teammates do. To forget about lesson plans and graduation speeches and weekly school visits and think about nothing except getting the ball past the other team’s defense.
That’s not frivolous. That’s essential.
You can’t pour from an empty cup. And you can’t build community if you’re always in “professional mode,” maintaining boundaries, keeping distance. Sometimes, you need to just be with people. Play with them. Lose with them. Celebrate with them.
That’s what December 17th was.
The Team That Bo Built
Here’s what makes this team special: they didn’t arrive in Bo as polished professionals keeping locals at arm’s length. They arrived as humans willing to do whatever Bo needed.
They trained forty entrepreneurs at the hub who are now building businesses. They visited eight schools every week to teach digital literacy. They met with school leaders at eight different schools. They engaged five government offices. They cleaned Care and Cure Hospital. They painted Rosal International Academy. And they played football against YSA and Bo Centre for Technical Studies.
Each of those actions says something:
- Training at the hub says: We’re building entrepreneurs.
- Visiting schools says: We’ll meet you where you are.
- Cleaning says: We’re not above service.
- Painting says: We believe your spaces deserve beauty.
- Playing says: We’re not visitors. We’re neighbors.
The football match wasn’t a break from the mission. It was an expression of it. Global Impact Innovators isn’t about maintaining professional distance. It’s about showing up fully—work, service, joy, and all.
The Eve of Graduation
As the matches ended and the teams shook hands—GII with YSA, GII with Bo Centre for Technical Studies—the sun was setting on December 17th. Tomorrow would be different. Tomorrow would be formal. Speeches and certificates at the hub on 27 Jaka Street. Families dressed up. Cameras capturing the moment. Four businesses
showcased by entrepreneurs who turned training into action.
But tonight? Tonight was for the team to remember why they started this work in the first place.
Not for accolades. Not for reports to funders. Not for social media posts about impact metrics.
For this. For community. For connection. For the feeling you get when you’re exhausted and exhilarated and you look around at the people you’ve been working alongside and realize: we did something real here.
Three Days That Told the Whole Story
Look back at December 15th, 16th, and 17th as a sequence:
December 15th: Listen to the community. Visit UMC Primary, Kakua Government JSS, Aladura JSS, and Bo Center For Technical Studies. Engage Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Welfare, National Youth Commission, Bo District Council, and Bo City Council. Understand what they need. Learn that demand for this program far exceeds
what you’ve built so far.
December 16th: Serve the community. Clean Care and Cure Hospital at 8 a.m. Visit Bilal Islamic, Al Ghadafi, Rosal International, and Mountain of Grace. Paint Rosal International Academy in the afternoon—with the Principal working alongside the team, brush in hand. Show Bo that you’re not just trainers—you’re partners.
December 17th: Celebrate with the community. Play football against YSA and Bo Centre for Technical Studies. Compete together. Laugh together. Remind everyone that this work isn’t drudgery—it’s joy.
That’s the full picture of what Global Impact Innovators is building in Bo. Not a transactional program that comes and goes. A relationship. A partnership. A shared commitment to making Bo better, together.
What Makes This Team Different
Jeremiah and his team could have run this pilot by the book. Train entrepreneurs at the hub. Visit schools once a week. Measure outcomes. Write reports. Declare success.
Instead, they gave Bo something more valuable: themselves.
They didn’t just teach—they listened. They didn’t just execute—they adapted. They didn’t just work—they served. They didn’t just lead—they joined.
And Bo responded. Not just with gratitude, but with ownership. The schools don’t talk about “the GII program.” They talk about “our program.” The entrepreneurs at the hub don’t feel like participants. They feel like founders—because they are, launching four real businesses that started as ideas and became MVPs. The students don’t see
external trainers who drop by once a week. They see teachers who care enough to keep showing up.
That doesn’t happen by accident. That happens because a team decided that success isn’t just about deliverables. It’s about relationship. It’s about showing up as whole people—training entrepreneurs, visiting schools week after week, serving, and yes, playing football against YSA and Bo Centre for Technical Studies when the moment calls for it.
December 18th: The Beginning
Tomorrow, forty entrepreneurs graduate at the Bo Hub. They’ll receive certificates and showcase the four MVP businesses they’ve already launched with their micro-loans. Real businesses. Real products. Real proof that training becomes action when you give people both skills and capital. Families will cheer. Photos will be taken. It will be beautiful.
But remember this: the graduation isn’t the end of the story. It’s barely the beginning.
The real story is what happens when these four MVP businesses scale. When the next cohort of entrepreneurs at the hub sees what’s possible and says: I can do that too. When the program expands to train more entrepreneurs and visit more schools.
The real story is what happens next year when the team visits more schools. When teachers across Bo get their own ICT training. When the eight schools—UMC Primary, Kakua Government JSS, Aladura JSS, Bo Center For Technical Studies, Bilal Islamic, Al Ghadafi, Rosal International, Mountain of Grace—become sixteen, then thirty-two, then more.
The real story is what happens when those forty entrepreneurs succeed and become mentors to the next cohort at the hub. When the 368 students become peer teachers in their schools. When Jeremiah’s team trains more trainers who can visit even more schools.
The real story is Bo deciding that this work belongs to them, not to an external organization. That they don’t need permission from outsiders to build their own future. That they have everything they need—the talent, the drive, the community—and now they have the training, the capital, and the support to unlock it.
To Jeremiah, To the Team, To Bo
Five months ago, this was just an idea. A pilot. An experiment to see if a hub training entrepreneurs and a team visiting schools could work in a city that most development organizations overlook.
Today, it’s a movement.
To Jeremiah and his team: You didn’t just run a program. You built a foundation. You earned trust. You showed Bo what’s possible. You proved that local leadership, when equipped and supported, can change everything. Without you, none of this happens. Not the training at the hub. Not the weekly visits to eight schools. Not the relationships. Not the meetings with government. Not the hospital cleaning. Not the school painting. Not the momentum. This pilot succeeded because you made it yours.
To the forty entrepreneurs graduating tomorrow: You took a risk. You showed up week after week at 27 Jaka Street. You learned. You planned. And you didn’t just plan—you built. Four MVP businesses that went from idea to reality because you had the courage to start. Tomorrow, you showcase what you’ve created. Walk across that
stage with pride. You’ve earned every bit of it.
To the 368 students and eight teachers across eight schools: You’re proof that digital literacy isn’t reserved for capitals and elite institutions. It’s for anyone willing to learn. You touched computers for the first time. You created emails. You learned to research, present, create. You’re not behind anymore. You’re building your future.
To the eight schools—UMC Primary, Kakua Government JSS, Aladura JSS, Bo Center For Technical Studies, Bilal Islamic, Al Ghadafi, Rosal International, Mountain of Grace: You opened your doors. You let the team come week after week. You sent your best and brightest. You trusted a new team. You asked for more. You made this yours.
To Bo: You opened your doors. You let a team set up a hub on 27 Jaka Street. You trusted them with your young people. You let them into your schools every week. You participated, provided feedback, asked for more. You made this program yours. And in doing so, you showed that change doesn’t require perfect conditions. It requires belief, effort, and community. You have all three in abundance.
The Celebration Begins Tomorrow. The Work Never Stops.
On December 18th, we celebrate. We honor what’s been built. We recognize achievement. We showcase four businesses that prove training becomes action. We mark a milestone.
And on December 19th? We start planning for next year.
Because this pilot proved something essential: Bo is ready. Bo is capable. Bo is building its own future.
And Global Impact Innovators is honored to be building alongside you.
Read more about how we support youth and women in Africa through our entrepreneurship training programs.
