Gemba launches Tenka program for high-potential start-ups in the sport and entertainment industry.
Leading sport and entertainment consultancy Gemba has unveiled its new sports start-up initiative Tenka, which aims to support high-potential ventures within the sports and entertainment industry. Gemba is collaborating with industry leaders to accelerate the growth of sport and entertainment related start-ups, facilitating structured training and mentoring, as well as providing access to intellectual capital, business modelling and industry contacts in return for equity, cash or in-kind value from the participating start-up.
The establishment of a pathway for emerging businesses extends Gemba’s recent success incubating and launching its own start-up, Turnstile. Turnstile is Gemba’s global sponsorship valuation platform, emerging out of intellectual capital and market benchmarks gathered over a decade advising rights-holders and brands in Australia and overseas. Since launching publicly at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston in 2018, Turnstile’s client roster has grown to include leading global brands and rights holders such as Formula 1, City Football Group, Coca-Cola and DDMC Fortis.
Rob Mills, CEO and Director of Gemba, explained the rationale behind the Tenka initiative:
“We felt that we had developed and demonstrated a clear capability in new product development, the incubation of an idea through to a high-potential business on a global scale. We did all this based in London, working for some of the biggest sports brands in the world, and generating meaningful revenues within our first year. So now we’re now excited about applying some of the same learnings and principles, helping develop, launch and scale other businesses in the sport and entertainment industry.”
Gemba will provide access to its strategy and marketing frameworks, in addition to world class sport and entertainment consumer research. Tenka will also involve Gemba collaborating with elite sporting organisations such as Essendon Football Club, to provide start-ups with unique access to complementary services such as high-performance and product development channels.
“Our collaboration with sports organisations such as Essendon Football Club aims to align organisations that have similar values and complementary skills,” Mills said. “We’re bringing together consumer insights, business modelling and strategy through Gemba, access to high-performance knowledge and facilities, plus proven fan engagement strategies. We think emerging businesses in the sports and entertainment space will really benefit from working with us.”
“The sports and entertainment industry is experiencing massive disruption and challenges right now, with events postponed or cancelled due to the Coronavirus. But we know from our preliminary work developing the Tenka program that there is still plenty of opportunity for new technology and new business models to add tremendous value to our industry. This can only help with the rebuild as we come out the other side.”
Start-ups within the sport and entertainment industry that are interested in partnering with Gemba and its professional network can apply for consideration from 12 May 2020. For more information or to submit an expression of interest, visit https://thegembagroup.com/tenka/
About Gemba
Gemba is a leading authority in the ever-changing world of sport and entertainment, providing world-class insights, strategy and marketing communications services to brands, rights holders and government.
About Tenka
Tenka is Gemba’s accelerator program that provides insights and consulting capabilities to kick-start high-potential businesses within the sport and entertainment industry.
“Tenka” translates from Japanese as “ignition”, and so Tenka is all about “igniting sports & entertainment potential”.
Tenka unlocks the best of Gemba; accelerating growth through world-class training, mentoring, business modelling, access to intellectual capital, consumer research and deep industry contacts, in return for equity, cash or in-kind value form participating start-ups. By collaborating with industry leaders such as Essendon Football Club, Tenka delivers access to elite athletes, as well as complimentary services including high-performance testing and product development capabilities.