Football maestro who turned injury into sport business

For most Kenyan sportsmen, the tales have been: ‘After many years of playing the game, the former talented player now languishes in poverty.’ But for Kenya’s record holder, who scored the highest number of goals (26) in a single season, it is a story of investments - one after another.

He is scoring in business too. In his heydays in football, Mr Ambani was capped 35 times with 17 goals at Harambee Stars. He clinched nine club honours and crowned with golden silver boots - each four times in a club career spanning 18 different clubs.

But while in China, just one sprint to receive a pass that would have probably seen the formidable striker score, an Achilles tendon injury struck.

And just like that, he was grounded. “Just that turn to go for the ball ruptured my muscles. I didn’t know it was that bad. The doctor assessed me and said I needed complete rest,” Ambani told Financial Standard.

Devastating and bad, he sums up the doctor’s recommendation that meant ending the lustrous affair with football in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Oman, Vietnam, India and China. That was 2011. He was just 30 years.

An accountant by training, he had to find a way to balance the books of family in the absence of football. Feeling defeated but wearing a determined face, he dashed into a shop in China and purchased 18 football uniforms at Sh40,000 and boarded a flight back home.

He was returning home to an uncertain future. He had to miss what he loved doing most. It was a clear gamble, he says. “I took the uniforms to Sofapaka Football Club and I got around Sh90,000. I put on a winning mentality and decided to test the waters of sports kit business,” he said.

When Sofapaka, owned by Congolese businessman Elly Kalekwa requested for another set of uniforms, he knew it was time to seize the opportunity.

Riding on his connections during his short stint in China, he went back to the Asian nation and purchased five sets of uniforms.

This won the attention of Chemelil Sugar Club and Karuturi Sports who bought two sets each while Sofapaka got one.

His secret was fair pricing. “I moved quickly and risked all my savings into business. I founded Bochend Sports in 2011 and locked failure outside,” bullish Ambani said.

Entire dreams

The company name was derived from his initials as well as that of his wife and children. This, he says, was because he had put the entire dreams of the family into the business.

On third floor of Star Mall, along Tom Mboya Street in Nairobi where Bonchend Sports, a sports kit, equipment and uniform branding business is located, Ambani says that speed and precision saved him from becoming into a pauper. “The teams did not pay me immediately. They trusted my name but told me they could not deal with individuals. That is how I formed and registered the business,” Ambani told Financial Standard.

But he didn’t set up in Nairobi first. With rental space owners demanding goodwill in the range of Sh300,000 to half a million, he decided to set up in Eldoret.

Having begun his career in Eldoret, it was easy to pick on location. He got space that required Sh45,000 as three-month rent.

His name in football, the quality of uniforms he had supplied to the three clubs and the favourable price compared to other sports wear suppliers saw him get more referrals. Initially, he used to import them from China and relied on branding businesses to customise the uniforms with logos and other branding as requested by customers.

He decided to have the logos designed in China to give him an edge on the market. With costs going up, another investment was needed. He wanted to shift from embroidery, which he says was not putting a fine finish on uniforms. “Towards the end of 2012, I imported branding machines to deliver on customers’ needs better and save on costs. I bring in unbranded uniforms and brand them here,” says Ambani.

In addition, he opened another outlet in Nairobi. This new location and the acquisition of branding machines boosted the business further.

Key supplies

More clients came on board. Currently, he has added AFC Leopards, Posta Rangers, Muhoroni Youth, Nzoia Sugar, Nakumatt, Oserian and Kakamega Homeboyz among others to his service base.

For teams like AFC Leopards, where he once played, for every shirt sold Sh500 goes to the club. Since he supplies caps, playing boots, goal nets, and other training kits, he has also roped in schools as well as volleyball teams like Prisons and General Service Unit.

“I am now fully into anything you need in sports. Our focus is on quality and affordability,” says Ambani, a former player cum accountant at Rivatex in 1997.

When Sportpesa, a sports betting firm, came calling with an offer to print over 3,000 uniforms, he won their heart too.

He has since shifted his order market from China and now gets his suppliers from Italy including unique logos.

This has helped beat counterfeits. But the journey has not been all that rosy. Managing cash flows, he says can be tricky especially when one wants to see the business expand further to meet the demand. Winning the trust of the suppliers, he says was also a challenge.

It took a series of unanswered emails before the supplier took him serious. Then came the challenge of stock theft from employees. “I once woke up and so many uniforms and boots were missing. I suffered losses but I kept focus. I counted it a sunk cost and soldiered on,” said Ambani.

Hailed for his speed and precision on the pitch as well as high discipline owing to his upbringing in the army barracks, he says this has had an impact on the business.

“You have to think very fast, work smart and always deliver on customer expectations. Every day, I want to score goals where other businesses aren’t,” he said.