Digital & Entrepreneurship in Sports: Former sport’s pro taking Sport Integrity and Management lessons for a new career in the digital economy

The training program launched by SKS365 through its brand dedicated to CSR, Training Program, and LVenture Group, a listed VC operator among the main startup accelerators at European level, gets to the heart. The goal is to transform the former professional sportsmen who are taking part at the Digital & Entrepreneurship in Sports course, into digital business managers.

After the first two workshops organized by the LVenture Group’s Open Innovation division, dedicated to personal branding and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the third appointment, which is going to take place on Monday the 19th April, is entirely dedicated to Corporate Social Responsibility and Sport Integrity. The experts of the SKS365 team, one of the leading players in the Italian betting and gaming market, will lecture on these matters, with the valuable contribution of ex football player and example of sporting integrity Simone Farina as special speaker.

The 30 former professionals participating in the course comes from different disciplines (volleyball, swimming, athletics, football, tennis, rowing and rugby) including sportsmen of the likes of Stephen Makinwa, 120 appearances and 16 goals in Serie A with Lazio, Chievo Verona, Reggina, Palermo, Genoa and Atalanta; Giovanbattista Venditti, 44 caps and 8 tries with the Italian Rugby team; former baseball and modern pentathlon Olympians Roberto Cabalisti and Stefano Pecci.

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The main theme and purpose of the workshop is to provide an overview about the “behind the scenes of the sport system”, to understand the main risks that lie behind a business project in the sports world. Illicit phenomena such as match-fixing are concrete and serious dangers that anyone who wants to start a business in this market must be able to recognize, using the tools that regulate the sector.

“We wanted to set up this workshop to offer valuable information for those who are planning their professional future within the sports industry”, explains Brian Dean, Chief People Officer of SKS365. “As part of the gaming and sports betting sector, we are focused on providing a safe and compliant form of entertainment for our customers. We are fully committed to protecting our customers and upholding these values, and, as a consequence, we provide support in defending the regularity of competition. We see training and education of staff as well as customers as fundamental, as knowledge and information are the most effective weapons to tackle similar dynamics. Each sport has its rules, but awareness and responsibility are common to all disciplines. We will use our corporate social responsibility initiatives to build awareness around integrity in support and to tackling undying legacy issues associated with our industry.”

For example, the match fixing, which occurs when a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, is an integral part of a circle of illegal business, that is worth 120 million euros globally [Europol data, 2020]. Antonio Papa, Director of Business Analysis of SKS365 will explain the dynamics and methods to preserve the integrity of the whole system. The seminar will go on with the speech of Farina, who in 2011 reported an attempt of match fixing and whose testimony kicked off the second part of the “Last Bet” operation on clandestine bets and settled matches. Farina will talk about his personal path and the goals he has achieved internationally after his sporting career ended.

“Training contributes to the progress, and the growth for the new generations – Farina added – Attending this workshop on defending the values of sport, represents for me an important opportunity for development. I am happy to bring my contribution to the understanding of match-fixing, one of the main dangers for the sport integrity. I firmly believe that in-depth knowledge and sharing of information, experiences and thoughts are the best tools in defence of the sports world, which must transmit healthy and positive values.”

Regarding the CSR and entrepreneurial management topics, there will be also a session about HR and resource management. Alessia Casonato, Group HR Operations Director of SKS365 will analyse the life cycle of a typical employee within a company.

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Thanks to LVenture Group expertise in the digital field and SKS365‘s deep understanding of the sports world, Digital & Entrepreneurship in Sports responds to the need of many ex professional athletes to have a second opportunity, once their sport career ends. Most of them, in fact, find it difficult to reintroduce themselves into the labour market, without the appropriate skills or knowledge. The training program will end in June with the presentation of the best projects created by the participants during the course, which will be ready to be launched on their respective markets.

More information is available at: https://www.digitalinsportstraining.com/.