Tribute to Sharad: He was King of sports marketing with futuristic ideas

Sharad was sports marketing guru with vision

Paying tribute to a great man is not easy. My interaction with Sharad Ghai, the former boss of Kenya Cricket Association (now Cricket Kenya) who was cremated yesterday, started when Media Plus Sports Ltd was formed in the late 90’s.

At that time, Sharad bought the marketing rights for Harambee Stars matches. This was a suicidal move to many and they knew that his money, about Sh30 million had gone down the drain.

But by that move, Sharad had announced that he was the king of sports marketing. His money did not go down the drain, and he in fact made a profit from Stars matches.

As a young man he had employed me as his Personal Assistant. I admired his drive and the influence he wielded. From my first day at work, I knew I had to learn everything he could teach me.

Sharad was a genius when it came to sports marketing. He would pull major deals that people only dreamt of. His ideas were futuristic and till now, no one has come close to achieving what he did.

Before Sharad came along, sports marketing meant receiving donations from corporate firms who would get a lot of mileage for their meagre donations.

Once, a soft drink company wanted to donate drinks for a Kenya versus Nigeria match and Sharad turned them away, saying they had to pay, and pay they did, and still donated the drinks.

Sharad was the President of Kenya Table Tennis Association for close to 12 years and thanks to his mentorship, I am privileged to be occupying that position currently.

He used to be a member of the national table tennis team and he represented Kenya in several international events.

He was loved and hated in equal measure because he was truthful in his deals and that is why he managed to pull major mega deals we all hope for. [Andrew Mudibo]