What is the founder(s) background?
Emerging Sports Professionals was started by Ivo Slot, Sian Kelly and Oli Ng, who all work together at The Sports Consultancy in London.
Why We Started ESP: A Journey of Networking and Growth in the Sports Industry
ESP’s launch was driven by the simple idea: we wanted to build a space for people early in their sports careers to connect, build relationships and share ideas in an informal, pressure free environment! By ‘early career’ we mean 1-6 years (ish!), intended to be a guideline as opposed to a restriction.
The importance of building a network from the beginning of your career is something that we found is often stressed. However, it became clear to us that there wasn’t an appropriate space for emerging professionals in the sports industry to do so, with big conferences and industry events geared toward senior decision-makers - C-suite executives. Whilst we know that these events are so valuable and are where we aspire to be in a few years time (once we are important enough) they’re often hard to access for those in their earlier stages of a career, due to high ticket prices or exclusive access!
Alongside this, the three of us share a real passion for the sports industry and wanted to meet people, learn about their roles, and talk to others at the same stages in their career. So without a readily available platform we could see to do so in the UK, we decided to create one ourselves!
Key Milestones Along the Way
Since launching, we’ve hosted two events, which have been more successful than we could have imagined. Through both events we have brought together people from over 40 different organisations, which is pretty cool to see. What started as a 30 person event in the top floor of a boiling hot pub in the middle of summer to watch an England’s last group game, has blossomed into a growing community!
We now have 600 followers on our Linkedin page, over 250 ESP members in our LinkedIn group and over 100 people in our private WhatsApp group!
The Biggest Challenges
Starting ESP while juggling full-time consultancy jobs has definitely been a challenge. Finding time to organise the events, manage the logistics, and make sure everything runs smoothly, all while learning how to build a business from scratch, has definitely been a learning curve, and a lot more work than initially expected!
What We've Learned So Far
The biggest takeaway has been has been that getting started is often the hardest part. We spent a long time deliberating—should we do it, where to hold the event, how many to invite, who should attend, and would anyone even come? But once we got past that initial hurdle and held the first event, it was all absolutely worth it!
It’s been incredible to see the support we’ve received from the group. People are genuinely really keen to be involved in what we’re doing and want to help. So that’s been especially rewarding to validate our initial thinking that there was a need for this!
The Highs and Lows
Every journey has its ups and downs. Walking into our first event space, on what turned out to be the hottest day in June and realising the room had no aircon and windows that opened only a couple inches was definitely stressful!
In all seriousness our lowest moments have probably been when we’ve felt overwhelmed trying to balance ESP with our full-time roles. But those moments are outweighed by the high points. Our last event at Heist Bank in Paddington stands out as a major highlight. The vibe at the event was great and afterwards we received so many texts from attendees thanking us for putting it on.
Also collaborating with groups like Sports Industry Group and Unofficial Partner has also been a great experience, helping us expand our reach and bring more value to our members.
Looking to the Future
As we look ahead, we have big ambitions for ESP! Our main goal is really to continue to grow the group and put on bigger and better events!
We plan to continue with the more informal socials, however we have plans to do virtual events (for those not based in London) and also stage much larger events as well! We’d love to host events alongside rights holders at their venues and bring speakers in to share their insights and experiences with our members.
In order to fund all these plans, we are looking to partner with organisations.If anyone would like to get involved, please reach out! We would love to chat!
Founder's Background
Ivo took a less conventional path into the sports industry, beginning his professional career on a Commercial Graduate Scheme at Nestlé, though he always had an eye on a future in sport. He joined The Sports Consultancy in May 2023 as an Analyst and is now a Consultant, working across various areas of the business, including Sponsorship and Major Events.
Sian’s languages degree from Oxford University and passion for cricket led her to starting her career in sport in Argentina, developing women’s cricket out there for 3 years. On her return to the UK she joined the marketing and tech development firm InCrowd Sports before later transitioning to Consulting, joining TSC 2 years ago.
Oli is a Consultant at TSC, and has been at the firm since 2022. His work at TSC primarily centres around international growth strategy, impact assessment and host procurement. Originally from Hong Kong, he started his career in sport as an intern at Tifosy Capital and Advisory.
To join the ESP LinkedIn community, click here for ESP LinkedIn page, and here for ESP LinkedIn Group
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