In a continent where dreams of sporting glory often wither on sun-drenched fields, TrendX is attempting something unprecedented: turning athletic potential into digital assets. The Nigerian-based platform is pioneering a tokenisation model that could reshape how African sports talent is discovered, funded, and developed.
“African athletes are full of talent, but they lack access to global platforms,” says Nelson Elemi, TrendX’s CEO. “Many can’t afford trial tournaments or reach international agents who can help them showcase their skills.”
The numbers paint a stark picture: over 70% of talented players in Africa lack access to proper training facilities, and only a fraction ever catch the eye of major clubs. It’s a pipeline problem that has plagued African sports for decades, but TrendX believes the solution might lie in blockchain technology.
Creating a Digital Bridge
At its core, TrendX is a tokenisation upstart that uses blockchain technolgy to democratise traditionally centralised systems.
In practice, they convert any real-life asset, project or idea into tradeable digital slices. “We’re soon to announce a mega project,” Elemi shared, speaking of a $1M public-private partnership with the Cross River state government. It’s just…groundbreaking”
Great as its strides may seem, TrendX’s biggest opportunity may very well be in the African sports market, a $12 billion industry still in its nascent stages. The opportunities here are largely unscratched, and the company’s positioning in Nigeria, arguably Africa’s capital of sports fanatism, can only mean two words: big business!
TrendX is leveraging its tech to transform athletic potential into tokenised assets, creating a decentralised sports economy where fans can invest in promising talents, and athletes can access the resources they need to succeed. Imagine investing in a Lionel Messi or Christiano Ronaldo before they got to the world stage. That’s the possibility TrendX wants to create at scale.
“We do not own these players or their rights though” shared Olumide Olusanmi, who leads Operations at TrendX. “We are plugging in all the stakeholders of the sports ecosystem, including local leagues, scouts, clubs, football academies, and sports VCs. What we provide is the tech to make the magic.”
Speaking of his company’s wins, Olusanmi effusively shared how TrendX recently tokenised a high-profile football team in Ghana. “We are actively talking with stakeholders across the football spectrum to tokenise their teams, clubs, and projects. We’re here to disrupt this space for real.”
In November, TrendX partnered with Afriskaut, a sports tech company that uses artificial intelligence to identify promising football players through video analysis and data metrics. According to Elemi, the partnership helps to solve the data arm of the African sports problem. “With our proprietary data, investors can now see the value of what they’re putting their money into. It’s not blind hope.”
Here’s a hypothetical case: A 10-year-old outruns people twice her age or a street footballer scores half the goals in a local soccer league. Afriskaut captures this data with AI analytics and TrendX is used to create tokens representing a slice of the athlete’s future. Investors get the chance to turn their fan craze into real returns while the athletes, empowered with funds, get a better shot at the global stage.
TrendX tokens are typically traded on digital asset apps such as Stableblocks, where the investments are managed in a digital suite of wealth-growing offerings.
Africa is Ready
TrendX may have timed its approach to market perfectly, says Caleb Nnamani, a blockchain writer and researcher who leads Content at NODO. “Their mission captures the zeitgeist of the modern African sports fan who typically wants to grow the sports story at home. And what better way to incentivise this activity than the promise of returns?”
The reality of African readiness for local sports investment is perhaps best seen in the story of Sporting Lagos, a Nigerian football club founded in February 2022 by Shola Akinlade, a tech pioneer and founder of Stripe-acquired fintech, Paystack.
After selling his company for $200m, the next best thing the 38-year-old founder did was to invest in African sports by founding a football team.
“There’s some sentimental aspect to him [Akinlade] doing this but generally it’s a good investment. It’s a form of diversification of investment,” Jing Jing Liu, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at MacEwan University is quoted as saying in a Quest publication.
Now, a team like Sporting Lagos can leverage TrendX to access liquidity from global fans to further scale their athletes and ambitions. This essentially places early backers one transfer news away from breakout profits.
Interestingly, big transfer deals are not new within the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL). A Rivers State FC player is currently valued at €50k, while Daniel Bameyi, who recently transferred to Yum Yum FC from Bayelsa United is worth €250k. This growing trend amplifies the need for TrendX’s latest gospel: growing and accelerating the careers of young African athletes.
Interestingly, Elemi has an aversion to the “African” label on most home-grown startups. “People like to box up companies to regions, and that’s not how it should be. We have the technology to tokenise sports, clubs, leagues and players anywhere in the world. It’s all on the blockchain—so it’s a fully global play!” he said with eyes twitching with passion.
The Road Ahead
While sports is adding to TrendX’s current focus, the company has its eyes on much more. “The sports initiative is a blueprint,” hints Olusanmi, revealing plans to expand into health tech and entertainment sectors. “Our platform’s adaptable architecture allows it to tackle industry-specific challenges while maintaining its core promise of transparency and inclusivity.”
For its sports vision, TrendX is now concentrating on tokenizing more tournaments across Africa and developing player asset models focused on transfers to international leagues. But that’s not the goal post for TrendX as the firm intends to tokenise everything from sports and real estate to minerals and infrastructure. Elemi describes it as tokenising Africa, one industry at a time.
“What we’re witnessing here mirrors a similar evolution of Africa’s tech ecosystem,” reflects Nnamani. “We went from consuming global tech to building world-class, home-grown startups. Sports could be following the same playbook for its breakthrough moment.”
