Image by GOA
Giants of Africa, the non-profit co-founded by Dallas Mavericks Team President Masai Ujiri, opened three basketball courts across Rwanda this week, giving its Built Within programme a presence in every one of the country’s five provinces. The openings take the organisation to 53 courts in 16 African nations, more than halfway to its target of 100 across the continent.
The courts opened on consecutive days in partnership with Rwanda’s Ministry of Sports, in Nyagatare, Eastern Province, on Tuesday; Musanze, Northern Province, on Wednesday; and Nyanza, Southern Province, on Thursday. Together they will serve more than 9,500 young people, students and community members.
The Nyagatare court, near the University of Rwanda’s Nyagatare campus, is expected to serve more than 600 people, from university students to local youth. In Musanze, the court sits at GS Marie Reine Rwaza, a Catholic boarding school with 900 students. The largest catchment is in Nyanza, where the court at Igihozo St Peter will be open to 8,000 people from the school and neighbouring schools. The school’s motto, “To Know, To Love, To Serve,” was cited by the organisation as reflecting the spirit of the programme.
The new sites join earlier Built Within courts in Rusizi, Western Province, and the City of Kigali. The Nyanza court is Giants of Africa’s 14th in Rwanda. The organisation credited the Ministry of Sports and the Rwanda Basketball Federation (FERWABA) as partners. No construction costs or funding partners for this round were disclosed.
Rwanda has become the organisation’s most concentrated market
Fourteen of its 53 courts, approximately a quarter, now sit in a country of around 14 million people, a density that reflects how closely Giants of Africa’s work has tracked Kigali’s long-running investment in basketball. The capital has hosted Basketball Africa League (BAL) games at BK Arena, and Giants of Africa has staged its flagship festival there in recent years. Courts outside Kigali carry that investment into the provinces, while most of the country’s basketball infrastructure has historically been concentrated in the capital.
Sports commercial backers
Grassroots access is the base everything else depends on. A league or federation selling sponsorship and broadcast inventory needs a population that plays and watches the game, and public courts in provincial towns and schools are where that habit starts. Built Within has also drawn in high-profile co-funders on earlier projects, including NBA player Kawhi Leonard, who backed courts in Kigali in 2025, giving athletes and brands a visible community asset to attach their names to. Giants of Africa now has 47 courts left to build to reach its target of 100.
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