Our Team
ACG’s leadership, 28 Advisory Board members, and 12 internationally recognised scholars behind Africa’s most ambitious sport infrastructure origination platform.
Founder and Executive Chairman
Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard
Founder and Executive Chairman, African Collaborations Group (ACG)
Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard is a Franco-Gabonese entrepreneur and the founder of APO Group and African Collaborations Group (ACG). He has been recognised among the 100 Most Influential Africans in 2023 and again in 2024, and has been featured in international media including CNN, Forbes, Forbes Africa, and CNBC Africa.
In 2022, Nicolas was appointed as a member of the FIFA Task Force for Infrastructure Development in Africa, created to support FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s vision of accelerating FIFA-standard sport infrastructure development across the continent. Through that process, he was personally mandated by President Infantino to develop an integrated sport and entertainment district concept for Africa. Building on that experience, he founded African Collaborations Group (ACG) to focus on originating bankable sport and entertainment district projects, moving beyond single-venue development models towards mixed-use, revenue-generating and financially sustainable district ecosystems.
Nicolas holds advisory and governance roles across the wider sport, business, and Africa investment ecosystem. He serves as a Senior Advisory Board Member of the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business, Strategic Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal African Society of the United Kingdom (RAS), and Strategic Advisor to the European Union–Africa Chamber of Commerce (EUACC). He is also a Member of the Africa Tech Festival/AfricaCom Leadership Council.
He sits on the Advisory Boards of the African Energy Chamber (AEC), the Critical Minerals Africa Group (CMAG), the World Football Summit (WFS), the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) (formerly the Africa Hotel Investment Forum, AHIF), and the Africa Women Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF).
He is a Member of the Pan-African Ubuntu Circle of The ONE Campaign, and an International Committee Member of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA). He also serves as Special Advisor to the President of Rugby Africa, the governing body of rugby in Africa.
Previously, Nicolas was an Advisory Board Member of the EurAfrican Forum (2019–2025), a Member of the Sports Africa Investment Summit (SAIS) Advisory Committee (2024–2025), and an Advisory Board Member of the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa conference (2023). He also served as a semi-final judge of Africa’s Business Heroes (also known as the Jack Ma Prize for Africa) in 2020 and 2021.
More information at www.Pompigne-Mognard.com.
Founding Chief Executive Officer
Paulo J. Cruz
Founding Chief Executive Officer, African Collaborations Group (ACG)
Paulo J. Cruz is the Founding Chief Executive Officer of African Collaborations Group (ACG), where he leads the development of a pan-African platform for structuring institutional-grade sport and entertainment district ecosystems.
Mr Cruz joins ACG from DAMAC Group, one of the largest privately held real estate developers in the Middle East (close to USD 10 billion in property sales in 2025), where he served as Senior Vice President from 2022 to 2026. He brings over 28 years of senior executive experience across real estate, infrastructure and large-scale development in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, having originated and structured projects ranging from USD 50 million to over USD 5 billion.
His expertise lies in transforming early-stage concepts into financially structured, investable developments.
Prior to DAMAC Group, he held senior leadership roles at BlackIvy Group, BP, Movares and Cushman & Wakefield, and previously served as Group Chief Executive Officer of LandAfrique.
At ACG, he leads the execution of the Victory District™ framework, driving investment and sustainable growth while advancing integrated district ecosystems across Africa.
Read more information here.
Our Advisory Board
ACG is supported by an Advisory Board of senior, highly experienced leaders who bring independent perspective, credibility, and real-world execution insight to the development of Victory District™ and future projects.
The Advisory Board exists to strengthen decision-making at the earliest stages of project origination – helping ACG stress-test assumptions, accelerate stakeholder alignment, and ensure the concept evolves into a model that is technically credible, commercially viable, and institutionally deliverable.
Advisory Board members serve in a non-executive, strategic advisory capacity.
They do not manage day-to-day operations; instead, they provide guidance, introductions, and constructive challenge across the core dimensions that make or break complex infrastructure programmes, including governance, bankability, sport ecosystem fit, and long-term operational sustainability.
Fatma Samoura
Former Secretary General of FIFA (2016-2023); Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Senate Member (2022-Present)
Abi Ijasanmi
Former Chief Operating Officer of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) (2022-2024); Founder and Chief Executive Officer of African Sports Investor
Carlos Carrión
Former Head of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Renovation Project
Chantelé Carrington
CEO of Invest Africa; Member of the UK Government’s Africa Investor Group
Paulo Gomes
Chairman of the Orango Investment Corporation; Former Executive Director of The World Bank
Aïcha Diop
Former Head of Brand Marketing & Advertising of NBA Africa and Basketball Africa League (BAL) (2020-2026)
Herbert Mensah
President of Rugby Africa; World Rugby Executive Board Member; Chair of the World Rugby Regions
NJ Ayuk
Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber (AEC)
Rick Taylor
Founder of The Business Tourism Company
Clare Barrell
Director International Relations Investment and Member Services of World Rugby
Kenny Jean-Marie
Former Chief Member Associations Officer of FIFA (2021-2024)
Jan Alessie
Co-Founder and Managing Director, World Football Summit (WFS)
Mike Dada
Founder of All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA)
Fleur Tchibota
Former Chief of Staff, Office of the CEO of Africa50 (2022-2026)
Jonathan Worsley
Chairman and CEO of The Bench (Future Hospitality Summit)
Gianni Merlo
President of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS)
Jason Jennings
Former Chief Operating Officer of Event Horizon (Afro Nation)
Aida Diarra
Former Senior Vice President of Sub-Saharan Africa of Visa (2018-2025)
Dr. Adesegun Adeosun Jr
(King SMADE)
Co-Founder of Afro Nation
João Peseiro Monteiro
Broadcast and Media Sports Events Consultant; Former Head of Service of Euronews
John David
President and CEO of the United States Sports Events & Tourism Association
Ahmed Abas
Head of Sports, Leisure and Entertainment MEA of JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle)
Lee Martin
Senior Advisor of Getty Images
Dr Aila Ahonen
President of the European Association for Sport Management
Grégoire Ndjaka
CEO of the African Union of Broadcasting (AUB)
Andrew Skipper MBE
Former Chair of the Hogan Lovells Africa Practice
James Williams
Former Senior Director of Events of Informa Tech (Africa Tech Festival)
Diamil Faye
Acting General Manager of the Riyadh 2034 – Asian Games
Our Research and Impact Advisory Panel
To complement its Advisory Board, African Collaborations Group (ACG) has assembled a Research & Impact Advisory Panel of internationally recognised scholars from leading universities around the world, covering sport economics, stadium financing, urban planning, sport architecture, mega-event legacy, environmental sustainability, sport-for-development, and impact assessment. The panel includes two UNESCO Chair holders, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sports Economics, and scholars who have advised the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee, and the United States Congress.
The Panel provides independent academic rigour throughout the pre-feasibility and feasibility phases: stress-testing assumptions, challenging methodology, and validating outcomes before they reach investors and government decision-makers.
The Panel advises on the impact narrative across jobs, skills, inclusion, youth pathways and public value; defines practical KPIs, baselines and an evidence plan for feasibility work; stress-tests demand, utilisation and economic impact assumptions; reviews masterplan and architectural coherence; embeds ESG, climate resilience and safeguards thinking early, in a way that withstands due diligence; and peer-reviews key feasibility outputs before they are shared with decision-makers.
No other sport infrastructure originator in Africa has assembled a comparable independent academic capability. The Panel exists only within ACG.
Prof Andrew Zimbalist
Robert A. Woods Professor Emeritus of Economics, Smith College (USA)
Prof Leonard Wantchekon
James Madison Professor of Political Economy, Princeton University; Founder, African School of Economics (Benin / USA)
Prof Dennis Coates
Professor of Economics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (USA). Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sports Economics
Prof John L. Crompton
University Distinguished Professor, Texas A&M University (USA)
Prof Richard Giulianotti
Professor of Sociology and UNESCO Chair in Sport, Physical Activity and Education for Development, Loughborough University (UK)
Prof Timothy Kellison
Professor of Sport Management and UNESCO Chair in Sport Ecology and Sustainable Development, Florida State University (USA)
Prof Simon Chadwick
Professor of Sport and Geopolitical Economy, SKEMA Business School, Paris (UK)
Prof Urmilla Bob
Professor of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal; Senior and Principal Researcher, South African Cultural Observatory (South Africa)
Prof Benjamin Flowers
Professor of Architecture, Knowlton School, The Ohio State University (USA)
Dr Kamilla Swart
Associate Professor and Program Director, Sport and Entertainment Management, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation (Qatar/South Africa)
Dr Stephanie Gerretsen
Chief of Staff / Acting COO, WICE; Former Urban Policy Specialist, UN-Habitat, Nairobi (USA)
Dr Katie McDonald
Lecturer of Sport and Recreation Management, La Trobe University (Australia)
