Inaugural Tisini football summit held in Nairobi

The First edition of the Annual Tisini Football summit kicked off on Thursday in Westlands, Nairobi.

Telecommunications Giants Safaricom sponsored the event held by Tisini — A media-tech company based in Kenya — that covered solutions towards improving Kenyan football’s financial affairs.

The summit explored financial opportunities in football and how brands can get value for sponsorships and key challenges of financing football sectors.

A number of football stakeholders, financial experts and sports investors were present during the event that limited attendance in compliance with Covid-19 regulations.

Auka Gecheo, Secretary General CECAFA was the keynote speaker kick starting the conversation that focussed on the theme: “ Where is the Money in Kenyan Football”

Sports Lawyer Felix Majani, Kisumu Starlets team manager Beryl Oketch, Investment banker John Nderi and Vihiga Queens CEO Michael Selenwa, also graced the financial football summit and led discussions on key topics revolving around finance.

Also present were Kenyan football representatives from both men’s and women’s clubs including AFC Leopards Chairman Dan Shikanda, Beryl Okecth, as well as two of the panelists Moses Maina and Yvonne Namai, who shared their two cents on football finance in the summit.

“Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards are not the biggest clubs in Kenya because they do not pay attention to assets unlike Al Ahly FC in Egypt, who ride on the cultural aspect of mobilizing the fanbase,” explained Namai during the panelists discussion.

The speakers touched on an array of topics in football finance including marketing, sustainability, sponsorship and law.

Gecheo, a former Kenyan rugby player and current Cecafa Sec Gen, provided great insight into the world of sports having had experience in not just football but also in rugby.

Gecheo highlighted the importance of giving the fans value for money and also went into the various sports paying focus to cricket and rugby, to look at the innovative ways of marketing and creating sustainable products these sports have used to make money the world over.

The event at Park Inn also attracted a number of media practitioners and journalists and aired live on Facebook.

The live feed allowed for the summit to be attended by a large global audience while maintaining social distancing.

The panelists and speakers explored various ways for clubs to position themselves and be more appealing to investors.

The Cecafa Secretary General touched on effective marketing, segmenting sports consumers and understanding the development of football not just from numbers and geographical growth but more towards systematic growth.

“Rallying a community to support a club for instance when Tusker FC moved their matches to Kinoru Stadium, it gets interesting since the fanbase is split,” Gecheo said during his presentation.

“Women should also be able to package their clubs well in order to attract funders by creating value for money,” he added.

Vihiga Queens CEO Michale Senelwa spoke on behalf of Kenya women football and reiterated Kisumu Starlets team manager Beryl Oketch’s sentiments.

“Women clubs need to view players as assets, view clubs as businesses, brand ourselves, respect players’ image rights and commercialize themselves” the Vihiga Queens CEO said.