Ashley Arthingal
ESA Diploma
Scholar, 2023
ESA is delighted to introduce the latest recipient of the ESA Diploma Scholarship, which was introduced in 2022 to help ESA deliver on its mission to inspire, unite and grow a welcoming and diverse sponsorship community.
The first recipient of the Scholarship was Nobandile Mutseyekwa and following in her footsteps this year is Ashley Arthingal, who spoke to ESA about his journey to this prestigious and coveted opportunity.
Ashley studied Law in Mumbai and after graduating in 2014 had a series of internships and full-time jobs in the legal field, from broadcasting to celebrity management and the media industry, before moving into the IT industry as an in-house counsel.
He had heard about the AISTS Masters in Sports Administration and Technology, and was eager to demonstrate his connection with sport (as a freelance sports blogger who played football at university level).
After four or five years of working as a corporate lawyer in Mumbai, he opted to move to Lausanne on a student loan and embark on the 15-month course. Moving to Switzerland was a big change for the 27-year-old, who hadn’t previously lived anywhere outside India.
Ashley completed the course in 2019, having done a presentation and research paper on doping in e-sports as part of his course. Subsequently, he was hired as an intern at the International Skating Union (ISU), where his main task was to deliver their anti-doping education programme ‘Pure as Ice’.
ISU then asked him to research the feasibility of introducing World Ice Skating Day as a global celebration of the sport. “It was a great chance for me to understand the nuances of the sport and meet the stakeholders, with the dual aim of celebrating ice skating and involving more communities and kids in this sport,” Ashley recalls.
After a benchmarking exercise as part of the feasibility study, and a survey, the ISU officially launched the World Ice Skating Day. “Then it was about creating a budget, a new website with brand identity, and presenting to ISU Congress 2022. An important part of the process was kickstarting partnerships – this was my first exposure to sponsorship,” says Ashley.
World Ice Skating Day was launched in summer 2022 with new partners on board that Ashley had negotiated with the support of his colleagues in the media and marketing departments, and it is now embedded as an annual celebration on the first Sunday of December with a global ambassador. Apart from commercial sponsorship, the ISU also partnered with the City of Lausanne to deliver an event in Lausanne for 2,500 people.
So why did Ashley apply for the ESA Diploma Scholarship?
“I’m fortunate to have gained the practical experience of organising a global event from scratch, which put me in connection with big sports and entertainment companies and sharpened my skills in event management and strategy,” he explains. “But I hope to build the concept with stronger partnerships with more countries, brands and entities around the world.
“That’s where education comes in. I would like to have more theoretical knowledge to go with my practical experience, such as learning the basics of how to structure deals.”
The ESA Diploma has qualified more than 600 industry professionals, many of whom now occupy senior positions in sponsorship. Ashley did his homework before applying, and now can’t wait to get started.
“I’m excited to learn alongside people from the same or similar industries and having checked out some of the alumni on LinkedIn, one can see that they are now working in sponsorship in very good places, and clearly the Diploma proved to have a lot of value for them,” he says.
“I think the ESA Diploma is going to give me a fantastic grounding in sponsorship and help me to keep learning alongside fellow professionals. I would like to continue the momentum I have created, and the Diploma structure really suits my working schedule.
“It is less intensive than a full-time course and it’s possible to balance the learning around daily work life. I’m happy to take on the new challenge of doing coursework at the weekends, and the timing is good for me with deadlines in the summer, since things get very busy at the ISU as we head into autumn and winter.
“Looking at the course structure and content, it goes deep into sponsorship and some courses don’t do that because they are trying to combine a lot of things. This is one of the main reasons I chose to apply for the ESA Diploma.”
Ashley is looking forward to channeling what he has learned in practical skills and hopes to keep growing.
Ashley admits that he hadn’t expected to receive the Scholarship, having researched the alumni and discovered that many ESA Diploma students work at major sports organisations (even Liverpool FC, his favourite team). Thankfully, he convinced himself there would be no harm in applying.
“I am very happy and very excited to be part of the 2023 cohort and very privileged to be the ESA Diploma Scholar,” he adds.
“When I got the email, it felt amazing, and then suddenly all these people from ESA started to search for me on LinkedIn. That was a very nice feeling and I’m excited to meet Peter Raymond and all my future classmates at the virtual induction.”
- Find out more about the ESA Diploma
