Overcoming all its previous financial problems, the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry managed to post a profit of around 200,000 Swiss francs (€165,900-$218,300) last year on revenues of CHF 1.3 million (€1.1m-$1.4m). It's been a quantum leap from the situation in 2007, when Robbert de Kock took over as secretary general of an organization that was losing money on revenues of less than CHF 700,000.
The organization's new financial health stems from a series of initiatives taken by de Kock and his team to improve its lobbying activities and to give more services to its members. As a result, the number of members increased last year by 20 to 217, not including the thousands of firms indirectly affiliated through the European Sporting Goods Industry Federation (Fesi) and its national member organizations. More services and benefits should become available to WFSGI members through an agreement signed with Ispo. The details of the agreement - the first formal contract of the kind between the two organizations.- could not be learnt.
At its gala dinner before the Ispo show, WFSGI announced the election of six new lifetime honorary directors including Phashi Sondhi from India; John Riddle, Jim Easton and Lindsay Stewart from the U.S.; and Arthur Lin from Taiwan.
WFSGI also awarded a special directorship to the late Armin Dassler, the former chief executive of Puma, as he was one of the founders of the federation. With Motoi Oyama now running Asics and the WFSGI, this special honor has a historical significance. As our senior reporter Barbara Smit wrote in her famous book on the history of Adidas and Puma, Kihashiro Onitsuka, the late founder and president of Asics, was the only person who managed to bring together Armin and his cousin Horst, chief executive of Adidas. As Armin's son, Frank Dassler received the award from Oyama on behalf of Puma, but he is now attorney general of Adidas, as well as vice president of WFSGI and president of Fesi.
Prominent speakers from health-related organizations called for a tighter partnership with the sporting goods industry to stimulate physical activity, at the health symposium organized by WFSGI on the eve of the Ispo show. Timothy Armstrong from the World Health Organization (WHO) pointed to the deadly impact of physical inactivity and urged the sporting goods industry to become fully involved in the fight against non-communicable diseases. He also relayed interest by member states in fiscal policies to support physical activity, which could directly benefit the industry. Others pointed to the need for deeper partnerships between business, civil society and government to get people moving more regularly.
A recent study by the WHO revealed that 3.2 million deaths around the world each year are directly related to physical inactivity.
