The Backroom Staff - TBS Grants Winners

TBS Grants Winners

Announcing the first ever TBS grant winners!

In July, I launched TBS Grants, a microgrant experiment to fund three people around the world to ‘start or advance your career and/or a project/initiative in football’. Here’s what happened.

When I announced TBS Grants, I didn’t know what to expect. The prompt was vague (or more charitably, ‘open ended’ :) ). My biggest fear was that the quality of applications wouldn’t be very exciting - or worse, that no one would apply at all. Luckily, this worry was gone after just a few days - within the first week, I felt, ‘I would be happy to give the grant to 3 of these people’.

It’s my first grant program but in my ‘real job’, I’ve reviewed the applications of and interviewed (literally) thousands of people. This felt different. Reading the applications, I was so awed by the variety of ideas and stories from people from all over the world (I received applications from 5 continents!). I felt quite emotional reading these ideas and proposals - often I wondered how these people, 1) found this website and 2) took the time to write such thoughtful answers. I’m really grateful for everyone who applied for and shared TBS Grants.

Anyway, one of the ‘problems’ with so many great applicants is trying to identify the ‘best’ ones! I thought a lot about how to pick the winners and spent days reading applications and doing my own research into their proposals. I wondered whether - and to what extent - I should consider factors like geography, feasibility, ‘impact’ and ‘need’. I even devised elaborate scoring systems, anonymized and randomized, ranked and re-ranked… you get the picture!

In the end, I couldn’t pick the ‘best’ project with the limited information I had and (after briefly considering a random draw from over a dozen ‘finalists’) decided to just pick the applicants whose story most inspired me and where I was, personally, most excited about their ideas.

I’m really excited to share the winners of the first TBS Grants program below!

Soga Grace (Juba, South Sudan) - Founder of Diva Sports

Soga Grace, also known as Dia Sisi, is a South Sudanese goalkeeper for Munuki Women FC, a graphic designer, and the founder of Diva Sports - a media platform dedicated to promoting women’s sports in South Sudan.

Inspired by her own playing journey and the lack of coverage for women athletes, she created Diva Sports to provide live updates, player profiles, and advocacy around equality.

With the support of the grant, Soga plans to buy essential tools - including a phone and laptop - to produce stronger coverage, design player materials, and build the first ever comprehensive database of South Sudanese players.

Her vision is to change the narrative and visibility around women’s sports in South Sudan and open doors for female athletes on and off the field.

Connect: LI / FB

Itcan Mpithi (Blantyre, Malawi) - Founder of Reach Out for Life

Itcan Mpithi is the founder of Reach Out for Life, a grassroots nonprofit in Malawi that supports children and youth through education, healthcare, food programs, sports, and vocational training.

Having grown up as a beneficiary of a children’s center himself, Itcan’s journey shapes his passion and motivation for creating opportunities for others. So far, Reach Out for Life has supported over 1,000 children and youth.

With the grant, Reach Out for Life will expand its sports programs - purchasing equipment, organizing teams and tournaments, and running regular training sessions to engage vulnerable youth in Machinga and Blantyre.

Itcan hopes to use football to empower youths and give them access to dignity, unity, collaboration and the power to dream and play freely.

Connect: LI

Khamis Ali Rashid (Zanzibar, Tanzania) - Project Officer at Good People International

Khamis Ali Rashid is a Project Officer at Good People International, supporting child nutrition programs across the Zanzibar, who has long worked to support marginalized groups through sport, advocacy, and community initiatives. He is also a Sports for Development coach and has worked in various roles at the Zanzibar Football Federation.

His work has focused particularly on people living with Down syndrome (DS), a community often neglected and excluded from basic rights in Zanzibar.

With the grant, Khamis will organize a football event for 100 people with DS, alongside community stakeholders, media, and government officials - raising awareness, building inclusion, and amplifying their voices.

He believes this initiative will help shift public perceptions and create long term opportunities for people living with Down syndrome in Zanzibar.

Connect: IG / LI

I want to thank everyone who supported with feedback, suggestions and sharing - and especially those who applied to this first edition of TBS Grants.

Please give Soga, Itcan and Khamis a follow and get in touch or reach out directly to support or collaborate with them!

Over the coming months, I’ll be sharing updates from them as well as they put their ideas into action.

I hope you can tell that I really enjoyed this! I’ll do a deeper reflection on this experiment in the coming weeks and months and consider how - and if - I should do it again in the future. Stay tuned :)

Read more interviews on The Backroom Staff 🙂