JAMII

Pro Bono for an Inclusive Padel Community

How Dentons and Pro Publico helped a grassroots padel community become a fully-fledged Belgian non-profit

From WhatsApp group to vzw: the Jamii story

When Tino Chibebe and his co-founders started Jamii, they had a simple idea: create a space where Black people and other underrepresented groups could feel genuinely welcomed in sport. What began as a WhatsApp group quickly grew into a vibrant community of nearly 300 members, combining padel, culture, social connection, and mutual support.

But informal energy only takes you so far. To access funding, secure insurance, and protect their members, the founders needed to formalise – and that meant navigating Belgium’s legal framework for non-profit associations.

That’s where Pro Publico came in, matching Jamii with Dentons for pro bono legal support.

The challenge: governance that works for a growing community

Establishing a Vereniging Zonder Winstoogmerk (VZW) or Association Sans But Lucratif (ASBL) under the Belgian Companies and Associations Code is not a simple administrative step. For Jamii, the stakes were high on multiple fronts.

The three founders needed statutes that gave them enough operational independence to run day-to-day activities effectively, while also ensuring meaningful board oversight – a balance that matters both for good governance and for credibility with corporate and government funders. They also needed practical tools to protect community members, including safeguarding provisions and a clear volunteer policy.

Pro bono legal support was not a nice-to-have. It was the difference between moving forward and standing still. As  Jamii’s co-founder Tino Chibebe put it: “This is legal work we simply couldn’t have afforded otherwise.”

Dentons: a pro bono partner with real depth

Dentons is a global law firm with a longstanding commitment to pro bono work across its global network. In Belgium, the team brought together Laurens Engelen, Martijn Segers, and Thomas Minne to take on Jamii’s case – a combination of corporate, governance, and regulatory expertise well suited to what the founders needed.

What set this collaboration apart was not just technical competence, but genuine engagement. The Dentons team received Jamii at their offices with full professionalism, remained consistently responsive, and went beyond the initial brief: connecting the founders with colleagues working on GDPR compliance and harassment prevention.

“We’ve met the Dentons team across their functions – from those who deal with harassment to those who deal with GDPR – and that’s been a great experience for us,” said Tino.

What the pro bono support delivered

The Dentons team reviewed Jamii’s draft statutes, advised on governance structure, and worked through the practical implications for funding eligibility, board accountability, and operational autonomy. The work covered:

Statutes filed with the Belgian Staatsblad. A fully constituted vzw, legally recognised and publicly registered – the foundation for everything else Jamii wants to build.

A complete governance toolkit. Statutes, internal rules, and a volunteer policy, designed to help the organisation run leanly while keeping the community safe. The internal rules in particular reflect where Jamii wants to go: a community-led, values-driven organisation that funders and partners can trust.

Insurance secured. One of the founders’ most immediate needs was coverage for their activities. That, too, is now in place.

Safeguarding provisions. Perhaps the most important outcome to name qualitatively: the advice helped Jamii put real protections in place for community members. As Tino noted, this is not something to reduce to a metric – but it is just as impactful as any document filed.

The result: time and trust

The practical impact is tangible. Jamii now has the legal infrastructure to apply for grants, attract corporate partners, and expand their community work. The cost of this legal support – had it been billed commercially – would have run to figures the organisation simply could not have sustained.

But time may be the most important currency here. The founders can now focus on building the community, rather than navigating legal complexity alone.

“What Pro Publico does is genuinely valuable. If there’s one thing all our founders agree on, it’s that time is our most precious resource. Pro Publico saves us time and cost by connecting us with lawyers who are not only competent but who genuinely care. As Jamii, we can only be grateful.” – Tino Chibebe, co-founder, Jamii.

Why pro bono legal support for sport and inclusion matters

Jamii’s story sits at the intersection of several things Pro Publico cares about: access to legal support for grassroots civil society, the formalisation of community-led organisations working on inclusion, and the power of well-structured pro bono relationships to unlock real-world impact.

Belgium has a rich ecosystem of non-profit activity, but the administrative and legal burden of setting up and governing aVZW/ASBL can be a significant barrier – especially for founders who are already volunteering their time, energy, and expertise to build something meaningful. Cases like this one demonstrate what becomes possible when high-quality legal expertise is made accessible.

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Thank you to @Laurens Engelen, @Martijn Segers, @Thomas Minne, @Dentons, @DentonsBelgium, @Tino Chibebe, @Hussam Eltoum, @Jamii, @Francesco Zatelli @ProPublico

#ProBono #AccessToJustice #InclusiveSport #Padel #CivilSociety #VZW #ASBL #BelgianLaw #ProPublico #Dentons #SocialImpact #LegalEmpowerment #DiversityAndInclusion