Sogakofe, Volta Region. Tilda Acorlor.
Mr Henri J.M. Wientjes, Founder and Owner of the African Football Academy (WAFA) at Fievie near Sogakope, has died.
Reports from Fievie, Sogakope, indicated that the maestro, died in the evening of Tuesday January 6, 2021.
Henri Wientjes was an Agricultural Entrepreneur who studied Tropical Agriculture and Soil Sciences in Deventer, Netherlands.
He was known as the ‘Paramount Chief’ of the Dutch Agric Community in Ghana.
Mr. Wientjes came to Ghana in the ’70s, studied, learned, and understood the Agricultural terrain so well and therefore confidently invested in a Coconut Processing Plant in the Western Region.
This is how he captured the Ghanaian scene In an interview with Agroberichten Buitenland, a Dutch news portal in 2019.
”I arrived during the time of ‘Africanization,’ with a big emphasis on African ownership and heavy state control over the economy.
”The initial euphoria after independence rapidly faded. After a terrible revolution where the military seized control of the country in 1979, the economy went through a transformation.
”The new government gave way to more private sector involvement. Most traditional “colonial” trading companies were unable to adjust, and simply faded away”.
Mr. Wientjes visited all the 16 regions of Ghana multiple times and had a vast knowledge of the country.
He was also the Founder and Executive Chairman of African Tiger Holding and its subsidiaries.
Mr. Wienties extended his grass root investment module to sports and football especially with support to individual sportspeople; becoming a source of encouragement for many.
These exploits extended to Ghanaian footballers home and abroad.
Mr. Wientjes may not be directly involved in the day-to-day administration of the club, but has always been the biggest pillar behind the progress of the Academy.
A staff of the Academy, whose name has been withheld due to the private nature of the Academy, described Mr. Henri J.M. Wientjes as a man who does not discriminate and would prefer hardworking employees who can deliver.
”All the four occasions I have had an encounter with him, I can say to you that he loves to support the needy, he does not discriminate certainly not a racist,” that staff said.
He noted that working with him (Henri J.M. Wientjes) had inspired and shaped his understanding of life.
”Because of that, it has shaped my perception in life and has been an inspiration to me” the staff stated.
Now, the big question on the minds of people is that some clubs in Ghana whose bankrollers and owners perish along the line, left their clubs in a sorry state.
For WAFA, it might not be so due to the well-structured football administration, currently run by the club.
It is the view of many that, that management arrangement, will sustain the Academy for a long time to come.
So sad, in the coming day's things might be tough for the club though. But I pray the sale of the Academy is not an option.
Condolences galore to the Wientjes family, the entire management, the staff, and the playing body of the Academy.
