Trinidadian football star Radanfah Abu Bakr is gearing up for the final stretch of a three year BA in Business Management course, taken in conjunction with South Thames College and Kingston University.
Prior to joining South Thames College, Radanfah represented his country at International level, taking part in the Under 23 Olympic qualifiers and two consecutive Under 20 World Cup qualifier campaigns. He also captained the under 20 national team for four years. At league level Radanfah played for Caledonia in the Trinidad professional league (equivalent to the UK Premier League).
Commenting at his time at South Thames Radanfah said: "Football is my first love, but my family advised me to get a good academic foundation behind me before committing to a football career full time. After finishing my studies back home, I started looking for a college abroad that would give me a good foundation in business. I cam across South Thames College online, and after doing my research decided to enrol on the Business Management degree.
"The course is taken in conjunction with South Thames and Kingston University, which has been a great opportunity to get a varied experience of studying in London. I chose to study Business Management as the course is very broad and gives a good overview of a range of key business disciplines, including Human Resources, Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Project Risk Management and Retail Strategy. Although my ultimate dream is to have a successful football career, it is important to have something to fall back on. I would love to run my own business related to the business side of sport and I think I will be able to use the skills and knowledge gained on this course back home in Trinidad to achieve this."
"Football remains my passion and I have been able to continue training throughout my studies. An agent recently saw me and invited me to a week of training and trials with Swansea FC during Reading Week which was very exciting. They are aware that I am studying, but have remained in contact so there is a possibility of something progressing with them after I have studied.
"Overall I am very excited about the future. I've learnt a lot since joining the course and am now much more aware of the business world. I am now in my final year and looking forward to graduating in 2008, and taking on whatever the future holds."