• Acer for Education and ACGL have announced a three-year partnership to focus on growing local esports.
• In particular they will be working to improve the Nitro Africa Schools League (ASL).
• The Nitro ASL started off with six schools a year and a half ago, but now has over 160 schools.

In recent years Acer for Education has placed a significant focus on esports in South Africa, and in particular growing it at the High School level by partnering with the likes of ACGL to host local events and tournaments.

Now Acer for Education has announced that it will be partnering with ACGL in order to grow the Nitro African Schools League (ASL), as well as esports in South African schools.

For those unfamiliar with the Nitro ASL, it is a free-to-enter competitive esports league dedicated to the Sub-Saharan African region, with schools capable register teams online to compete against each other in a variety of gaming titles.

“Starting out with six schools a year and a half ago, the league has rapidly grown to include over 160 schools today, including a recently added junior league. This initiative not only gives schools a platform on which to compete against each other but has helped grow local competitive esports to the point where schools are able to invest in and establish dedicated esports teams,” highlighted Acer for Education in a release shared with Hypertext.

“It’s been a phenomenal partnership with ACGL and the ASL league, and being able to reach the schools… not only from a publicity point of view, but to see kids who are quiet, sitting in the back of classrooms not engaging on the sports field, to suddenly come to life and just explode in enthusiasm because we’re talking their language – that’s what we’re after,” noted Glenn du Toit, director of Acer Africa.

With esports globally growing an estimated 70 percent over the past five years and carrying a value of roughly $1.64 billion, there is of course significant interest in this segment. It is why ACGL and Acer for Education say that want to add a greater level of professionalism to the field locally, and make it a more noteworthy industry in SA.

“Ultimately these are the future pros of South Africa and SSA, and we want to be able to follow them along in that journey because the story of how we find our next professional esports player is still to be found, and we can’t wait to be there along for that journey,” added Nick Holden, co-owner of ACGL.

To find out more about the Nitro ASL, head here.