Giants Of Africa Festival Returns To Rwanda In 2025, Inaugurates Zaria Court

Giants of Africa, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering African youth through basketball, alongside its founder Masai Ujiri, vice-chairman and president of the Toronto Raptors, has announced Giants of Africa Festival 2025.

Returning to Kigali, Rwanda, July 26-August 2, “the event will bring together 320 young athletes from 20 African nations, and more than 20,000 spectators for a week of community, culture, basketball, education, and entertainment,” according to today’s May 8 announcement.

Athletes will unite in a parade for the opening show, which will kick off the weeklong celebration. South African DJ sensation Uncle Waffles, MTV Video Music Award-winning choreographer Sherrie Silver, and Rwandan singer and songwriter, Kevin Kade will bring electrifying performances.

Ujiri will be on site, alongside special guests, to welcome everyone to the festivities.

Giants of Africa Festival 2025 takes place across Kigali Sports City’s BK Arena, Amahoro National Stadium, Petit Stade, and the Paralympic Gymnasium, showcasing the potential of Africa’s sports and entertainment ecosystem, and “highlighting its social and economic value for the next generation and the continent at large,” as the press announcement states.

Giants of Africa Festival 2025 will also serve as the grand opening of Zaria Court. Founded by Ujiri, the new mixed-use sports, entertainment, and cultural district includes an 80-room hotel, sports bar, basketball court, event space, retail outlets, gym, five-a-side football pitch, and outdoor public areas.

The festival’s closing concert will feature performances from Nigerian Afrobeats artist Kizz Daniel, and award-winning Nigerian singer/songwriter Timaya.

“Celebrity guests in attendance throughout the week will include Chris Tucker, Candace Parker, Robin Roberts, Chiney Ogwumike, Didier Drogba, Michael Blackson, Boris Kodjoe and more. Additional performers for both the opening show and closing concert will be announced in the coming weeks,” the announcement concludes.

Giants of Africa has been empowering youth through basketball, hosting camps and building courts across 20 African countries since 2003. The foundation, by its own admission, “not only teaches game fundamentals but connects young people with inspirational mentors who show how determination, leadership, and integrity can transform dreams into reality. Also central to their mission is basketball’s unique power to transcend barriers and unite diverse communities.”

The Giants of Africa Festival is “a culmination of this vision,” featuring a weeklong youth basketball camp and tournament that brings together young men and women from 20 nations.

Youth campers will represent Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, Gabon, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, D.R. Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Morocco, Botswana, and South Africa. Giants of Africa and NBA/WNBA coaches and personnel will lead training sessions, with assistance from local coaches from the participating countries. A round-robin tournament will determine which countries and players will compete in the festival’s championship and all-star games.

“Like these kids, I grew up on the continent,” says Ujiri, “as Africans, we know the landscape of what the kids go through. We know they dream just like we did and it really inspires me because, those kids have so much more talent and intelligence, they have ways to communicate now that we didn’t. This festival is about showing them there is a path. We want them to never stop dreaming.”

This year, Giants of Africa will also present its inaugural Threads of Africa Fashion Show, celebrating culture, fashion, and design from across Africa. The show will spotlight the work of three talented fashion designers, each from a different region of the continent. Cameroon’s Hortense Mbea (Afropian), Niger’s Alia Baré (Alia), and Rwanda and South Africa’s Nyambo (Masa Mara) will each present their new collections, and come together for a moderated discussion.

Additionally, festival highlights include the International Youth Day Forum, presented in partnership with the Imbuto Foundation, Ministry of Youth and Arts and ALX, bringing together over 2,000 Rwandan youth and festival campers to hear from esteemed leaders.

The Women’s Community Outreach Program will take place in Rwanda and across all 20 represented countries, offering leadership and education sessions in local communities to empower women and girls with knowledge, resources, and inspiration.

Giants of Africa Festival 2025 follows the inaugural Giants of Africa Festival which took place in Kigali in 2023 in celebration of the non-profit’s 20th anniversary.

The event united over 250 youth basketball players from 16 African nations, drew in over 14,000 spectators, and saw an estimated $1.5 million invested into Kigali’s local economy.

The 2023 festival culminated in a closing concert featuring performances from Afrobeats icon Davido, Queen of Afrobeats Tiwa Savage, Rwanda’s own Bruce Melodie, and South African superstar Tyla.

“It was a beacon of unity, inspiration, and transformation that ignited the continent. Building upon their bold ambitions, Masai Ujiri and Giants of Africa are poised to make an even more powerful statement in 2025,” the press release concludes.

Tickets for Giants of Africa Festival 2025’s opening show and closing concert will go on sale beginning Thursday, May 8, at 3 p.m. Central Africa Time. More information at www.GOAFestival.org.

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