If you think sports, tech, and media don’t mix, Janine Anthony is here to prove you wrong—loudly. She’s not just playing in these spaces; she’s redefining them. Whether she’s calling the shots as a sports broadcaster, shaking up the digital creator economy, or building groundbreaking platforms for African football, Janine moves like a force of nature. Her career is what happens when passion meets opportunity, and she’s making sure the next generation gets even bigger ones.
Janine’s journey into the sports-tech ecosystem wasn’t a linear one. She holds a BSc in Marine Biology (yes, you read that right) from the University of Calabar and later pursued an MBA at the University of Newcastle. But her true calling? Bringing sports stories to life and creating spaces where African voices get the shine they deserve.
“I couldn’t play football on the pitch, so I definitely wanted to be part of it off the pitch,” Anthony shares. “At the time, I didn’t understand what it was—just this blind passion. When you’re young, there’s just something that drives you. You don’t know if women get paid in the field, what the risks or rewards are; all you know is that you want to do it.”
She founded LadiesMarch, the first African network dedicated to reporting women’s football on the continent. That might sound like an obvious win today, but back then, women’s football coverage was practically nonexistent. Instead of waiting for the industry to catch up, she built the table herself.
Between 2018 and 2021, she led BBC’s West Africa Sports Desk, where she made history as the first African woman to provide live football commentary at a major men’s tournament—AFCON 2019 in Egypt.
“My first match, I was so nervous. The experience was overwhelming, especially when I ran commentaries pitchside with that added pressure of being able to interestingly engage audiences, visually paint every picture, and most importantly, proper pronunciations,” she admits. “Years after that, I’ve learned to appreciate it. I didn’t savor it then; I didn’t know just how big of a deal it was.”
That readiness catapulted her into even bigger roles. She became a sought-after African football expert, appearing on Sky Sports during the 2022 AFCON and FIFA World Cup. Then came the Premier League gig, where she got up close and personal with football’s biggest names, interviewing Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and former star Alexandre Lacazette, among others.
“Imagine growing up in Okota, Lagos, watching these icons on TV, and then, one day, Ian Wright is giving you props on British television. Unreal.”
Janine isn’t just a storyteller; she’s a digital powerhouse. While serving as Sports & Gaming Partnerships Lead for Sub-Saharan Africa at TikTok, she was instrumental in growing the sports creator economy. Under her leadership, TikTok introduced standalone Sports and Gaming Creator of the Year categories for Africa—an industry first.
“For the longest time, sports and gaming weren’t recognized as separate verticals in Africa’s creator economy. We changed that,” she says. “We localized global strategies, connected brands with audiences, and helped creators monetize their content in ways that hadn’t been done before.”
Her influence extended beyond TikTok. As a producer on FIFA’s official 2023 Women’s World Cup documentary All Roads Lead Down Under, she helped spotlight the underdog journeys of national teams worldwide.
“For me, the opportunity at TikTok stemmed from the need to localize global products on the continent,” she explained. “It’s the same concept we talk about in football—how do we take the quality we see in the Premier League and localize it in Africa? At TikTok, it was about adapting global best practices and giving them a unique spin. It wasn’t just about copying and pasting but making it uniquely ours.”
Janine’s impact isn’t just about digital transformation; it’s about equity. As Head of PR and Communications at pawaTech (owners of betPawa and Mchezo), she played a key role in betPawa’s Locker Room Bonus (LRB), a game-changing initiative ensuring instant mobile money rewards for both male and female players after match wins.
She’s also no stranger to humanitarian work. During the Ukraine crisis, she and a group of volunteers co-founded Black Foreigners in Ukraine (BFU), helping African students and workers evacuate. CNN covered her work, amplifying the reality of racial disparities in global crises.
Despite the accolades—AIPS Young Reporter Top 10 finish, TikTok’s 2024 Global Women Leaders recognition, and an invitation to the FIFA Best Awards—Janine remains focused on the work.
“The awards are nice, but the work is the win,” she says. “If I can inspire the next generation of African women to break into spaces we were once shut out of, then I’ve done my job.”
As a leading strategist working with global brands, Janine has made it her mission to amplify their work while ensuring that customers don’t just see them as faceless companies, but as personalities they can trust.
“People don’t want to engage with a faceless brand anymore,” she says. “They want to feel like they’re talking to someone who understands them, who listens, who puts them first, and is invested in their causes and beliefs. This is how I aim to support the art of business.”
With a career that blends sports, tech, and media in ways few have mastered, Janine Anthony isn’t just a trailblazer. She’s a movement.
