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Christopher Forsythe (born 9 June 1980) is a Ghanaian born Irish Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Forsports Foundation (formerly Glentoran Football Academy/Sillsport Football Academy Africa). He is currently serving as the C.E.O of the Foundation.

Contents

Early Life Career Activism Leadership References

Early Life

He grew up in Sunyani, Ghana, born of Akan parents from Berekum in the Brong Ahafo Region. The son of a Headteacher and businesswoman with six brothers and two sisters. Chris developed interest in football at tender age because all his brothers were playing football but unfortunately he wasn’t good at it and therefore focused on his education. He met the late Belfast Headmaster, George Christopher Forsythe through letter writing (penpal) who adopted him in 1997.

Career

Christopher emigrated to Northern Ireland and stay with his adopted father Mr George Christopher Forsythe. He continued his education at Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education now Belfast Metropolitan University and obtained Diploma in Information Technology. He also has NVQ in Business Management from the Training and Employment Agency, Bryson House Charitable Group-Belfast, Northern Ireland.

During his stay in Belfast, Christopher contacted the then Chairman of local football club, Glentoran F.C and sought permission to established Glentoran Football Academy in Sunyani-Ghana for homeless and street children.

After the demise of his adopted father in 2004, Christopher moved back to Ghana and concentrated on his charity work through the Glentoran Football Academy project which later became Silsport Football Academy Africa through the sponsorship offered by the UK based Sillsport Group.

Christopher love for the underprivileged led to him helping a lot of Ghanaian homeless and street children in Sunyani, having a place to lay their head and have a future through camaraderie of soccer. This led to the success story of Afriyie Acquah currently playing professional football with Torino F.C-Italy.

In 2014 in pursuit of getting sponsorship for the project he established for the homeless and street children due to the withdrawal of support from Sillsport Group on circumstance beyond their control, Christopher encountered the most difficult tragedy in his life and all his good work and efforts were crumbled.

Chris came across the following quotes for the four months he contemplated suicide.

1. 	“Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.” – XIV Dalai Lama 2.	 “There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’ No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.” XIV Dalai Lama 3.	 “All suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their own happiness or satisfaction” XIV Dalai Lama 4.	 “When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways–either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.” XIV Dalai Lama 5.	 “When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.” – XIV Dalai Lama

In December 2014, Christopher through the above quote decided to start all over again and re-aligned his focus on his humanitarian work which bear a lot of fruits and prospered the life of several underprivileged children in Sunyani and other parts of Ghana.

His charity was renamed Forpsorts Foundation. Currently he runs the charity with support from companies and individuals with his dedicated volunteers. The foundation has acquired 105 acres of land at odomase-Sunyani and has decided to investigate the possibility of creating a substantial educational, vocational and sports focused facility in Central Ghana to accommodate up to 1000 pupils. The Foundation will also establish the Forsports Foundation Sports Medicine Centre and will be the largest private one-stop centre for injury management, injury prevention, pre-participation screening, exercise testing, exercise prescription, performance enhancement and multi-disciplinary weight management (weight gain or weight loss) in the West African Sub-Region.

Christopher worked with Sillports Group as their Country Director of Operations with their commercial partners Mercury International Solutions in Ghana. He also established the ForSythes Group, which he is still a Director.

Activism

With six brothers and two sisters from his mothers side of the family coupled with additional fifteen children’s by his father, Christopher did not had it easy at the beginning and therefore when he had the chance to be adopted by the late George Christopher Forsythe, helping people became his genie and therefore his love to give back and help the underprivileged was a factor from his early life.

Christopher championed the cause to help the underprivileged and was the architect of the Mercy Corps/Nike/ Glentoran Football Academy Brong Ahafo Regional Tournament at Ghana’s 50th Independence Anniversary.

Christopher also single handedly worked with International Medical Equipment Collaborative (IMEC)-USA to deliver medical equipments and supplies to all the health facilities in the Asunafo North Municipality as well as some selected health centres in Brong Ahafo Region and also providing equipments for the establishment of the Goaso Midwifery Training School.

Christohper’s objective is to see a world where there will be equal opportunities for all regardless of where you were born. He believes in this quote from Mahatma Gandhi.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”-Mahatma Gandhi

Leadership

When describing his own leadership style, Christopher stated that he does not micromanage, and instead places a large emphasis on being personal – he wants to “treat people like they want to be treated,” Christopher reflects on past mistakes and attempts to improve upon how he treats people every day. He believes that “a leadership role [is] about finding that balance between being aggressive, fierce and competitive, and treating people well”.

Tragedy

Christopher believes that in life, tragedies can be fell one, you just have to believe in yourself and don’t let it kill your dreams, if you believe what happened was a set-up and believe it doesn’t reflect your true self inwardly, you can use it as a stepping stone to help others. Do not dwell on the past; life goes on, be the change you want to see in the world. Don’t let the past determine your future.