By Our Staff

Sports and Society Accelerator (SSA), a non-profit ecosystem promoting sports, hosted the inaugural edition of the Making Sport Work Forum 2023, with Meraki Sport & Entertainment, and research partner Pacta. The event saw Rahul Dravid engage in a discussion with Kiran Khalap, chairman of the board, Meraki Sport & Entertainment.

Speaking at the event, Desh Gaurav Sekhri, co-founder, Sports and Society Accelerator said “The preliminary research report by Pacta-SSA found that sports as a CSR category ranks lowest in terms of received funds, with less than 1% of cumulative CSR from 2014-21. Only a minority of companies contribute to sports CSR. Our endeavour through this forum was to showcase the emerging trends from the Indian sports CSR landscape, and their broad implications. We see the potential for private sector organizations to contribute in important ways to holistic sports development in India while simultaneously achieving many of their own strategic goals.”

Added Tahsin Zahid, the CEO of the Sports, Physical Education, Fitness & Leisure Sector Skill Council: “There is a real opportunity for us to effectively use CSR extensively for sports endeavours. The positive impact on communities and society through sport is visible to all. We must do our best to enhance awareness about the opportunities that fall within the entire spectrum of sports CSR, and the private sector and government must work together to create meaningful outcomes which creates a true sporting nation.”