“I love you Rwanda, and I love you Africa,” Ujiri said in his remarks at the official opening of the 2025 Giants of Africa Festival this Sunday , in which he thanked President Paul Kagame’s leadership that has enabled Africans to dream big like giants through the GOA events.
“It is such a pride for me to be here (Rwanda). I want to say thank you to His Excellency President Paul Kagame for allowing us to do this in Rwanda for the second time. I would like to thank the sponsors and everybody who has made this happen,” Ujiri said, specifically noting the support of Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame.
Ujiri, who was excited to see the 2nd GOA return to Kigali, said that he has one message for its participants:
“We are a borderless Africa. We are together. This signifies who we are. We are beautiful. I promise you that these guys, among the many youths on the continent, are going to make our continent great. They are going to be bigger, better,”.
“Everybody underestimates us. They think white charity; they think there is poverty here. We are rich, rich in our souls, in talents, rich in who we are. We are rich because we belong,” Ujiri said, citing areas of this richness in sport, athletes, artists, doctors, pilots, and chefs, etc.
“Why can’t we be the best in the world, why?” Ujiri asked. “And we will be the best in the world,” noting that Africans should unite to support each other to be the best of all and do great things.
Bringing out Giants in Africa:
President Paul Kagame, who officially opened the festival, thanked Masai for investing his time and money to make the GOA happen and stated that Rwanda was pleased to host the festival for the second time in Kigali.
In the same worldview as Ujiri, Kagame used the opportunity to urge Africans to believe in themselves, especially the giants that are in each African.
“I want you to believe in the giants that are in you and then you go out, work hard, put in all the time and resources, put in time on court, off court, and that will bring out the giant in you, and that is what Africa needs to do,”
“Africa needs to believe in the giant that Africa is; and you’ve got to come out and show it and do what we need to do that giants do,” Kagame said
He stated that giants grow, develop, stand tall, believe in themselves, and that Africa should not, cannot remain lagging behind the rest of the world.
In this case, Kagame said that the GOA festival in itself and the numbers of countries represented are worth growing and doing Africa proud.
“We can do it through sports, we can do it through many things.” Kagame said, it should just be a slogan, it shouldn’t be talk; it should be deeds as well. And we are capable of doing that,”
To the youth, Kagame said that the festival should take the lead in bringing out the potential of the continent through the Giants of Africa festival.
Kagame restated that Rwanda is proud, together with all GOA festival organizers, to host the event because it enables Africa to bring out its best and brings out a lot about the continent.
“Giants of Africa have been trailblazers in sports, infrastructure, and in identifying and developing the talent of Africa’s youth that you represent here tonight,” President Kagame tells Giants of Africa while thanking all African countries that participated this year.
