º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Sport Business expert invited to speak at Egypt Sports Expo

Dr Andrea Geurin, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London’s Director of the Institute for Sport Business, recently attend Sports Expo Egypt after being invited by the Minister of Youth and Sports in Egypt to share her expertise.

The event took place in Cairo 22-25 February 2023, and Andrea discussed how Egypt can position itself to host the 2036 Olympic Games, as well as taking part in a panel conversation at the conference.

She was invited by the Minister of Youth and Sports to attend and speak based on a recommendation from Dr Azmy Faisal, Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University.

On the first day of the conference, Andrea spoke alongside Dr Ashraf Sobhy, the Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sports, as part of the opening session, titled “Sports as a Lifestyle”. Attending was an audience of government officials (including Mostafa Madbouly, the Prime Minister of Egypt), diplomats, sport industry professionals, Egyptian university personnel, and officials from a variety of sport governing bodies and National Olympic Committees.

Along with Andrea, the opening keynote talk also featured Kahled Abdel Ghaffar, the Egyptian Minister of Health and Population, and Lieutenant General Ossama Rabie, the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority.

Dr Geurin spoke about the benefits that sport can have in a society, addressing the health benefits that it can provide, and that healthier societies tend to see positive impacts such as lower healthcare costs, better work productivity, lower rates of mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression, and more job opportunities within the sport sector due to more people prioritising physical fitness. She linked these benefits to positive impacts on a nation’s economy.

On the second day of the conference, Andrea participated in a panel with several other speakers in a session titled “Preparing Countries to Host Mega Sports Events”, during which Andrea gave a presentation, then discussed research on successful Olympic host city bidding.

Andrea shared her thoughts on the experience: “Over the course of the conference, I had an opportunity to meet many sport leaders within Egypt, such as individuals who are heavily involved with National Governing Bodies of Sport in Egypt, Egyptian universities that have sport management programmes, LaLiga officials from Spain who were there to discuss investment in sport and development of grassroots sport, and Egyptian sport business owners and entrepreneurs.”

Dr Geurin serves as the Director of the Institute for Sport Business and teaches primarily into the MSc in Sport Marketing programme. She has published extensively on the topics of sport marketing and communication, specifically focusing on athletes’ and sport organisations’ use of social media, as well as media portrayals of athletes of differing race, gender, and nationality. 

Andrea's work has appeared in over 60 peer-reviewed academic journal articles and book chapters, including articles in the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, Sport Marketing Quarterly, and European Sport Management Quarterly. She also serves as an Associate Editor for two journals: European Sport Management Quarterly and Managing Sport & Leisure. Additionally, she is an editorial board member of four other academic journals.