Episode 36: Nana Badu & Olivia Eastwood-Gray - Badu Sports

In this week’s episode, James chats to Nana Badu and Olivia Eastwood Gray of East London’s Badu Sports. Nana is the Badu Sports and Badu Community founder, and Olivia is the brand and project manager for Badu Sports. Like many of Nana’s team, Olivia has a unique story of how Nana reached out to them and provided them with a space at Badu Sports. Whilst Nana moved to the UK at 10 and sport played a huge part in his life, his traditional background was not as enamoured with it as he was!

Badu Sports provides quality PE and activities to schools in the East London area, as well as mentorship and development programs for children and young people in their local area.

What you’ll find out in this week’s episode:

• Nana and Olivia’s early life, leading to their roles at Badu Sports
• How Nana got into sports and his future as a national footballer for Ghana(!)
• How Nana transitioned from being a volunteer to running a sports business
• How Badu Sports developed and its sources of funding
• The challenges that came with COVID-19 for Badu Sports
• How and why Nana chose to rebrand Badu Sports
• Nana, Olivia & Zeneice’s impression of the future of Badu Sports
• The professional habits that Nana has that help him stay on top of things
• Advice that Nana would give to his younger self

…and so much more!

Connect with Nana Badu/Olivia Eastwood-Gray/Zeneice Hall

Website: https://badusports.co.uk/

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/nana-badu-175224a6

Instagram: @badu_sports_

Follow Zeneice Hall - (Head of Women in Sport & The Centre of Excellence) @zeniecehall

Connect with James:

Instagram: @james_ventures

Facebook: Coordinate Sport FB Page

LinkedIn: James Moore

Coordinate Sport: The Drive Phase Podcast