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EDITOR'S NOTE 03
IS THIS WHY CRISTIANO IS THE MOST FOLLOWED PERSON ON INSTAGRAM? 04
BOOK REVIEW: FEVER PITCH 08
ATHLETE MISMANAGEMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 11
Contents STACEY LEE MAY: SA MOTOR CULTURE 14
WHY DANGOTE WANTS TO BUY ARSENAL 22
THE ATHLETE-INVESTOR 26
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Editor’s Note Hello & Welcome to White Collar! Athletes have a tough, competitive and intense career; a very high-risk high-reward short burst, during which, they consistently push themselves to their limits. The lives of the most successful athletes show direct correlation to those of the most successful Career/business people. On this issue, we talk about the athlete’s secondary careerpath after early retirement. We also unearth the challenges that African athletes bare in order for them to represent their countries. All this accompanied by a candid conversation with Spinner and stunt-driver, Stacey Lee May about growing up in South Africa’s Soweto, her up-hill battle to change the Image of Spinning (South Africa’s fastest-growing motorsport) and what it takes to represent her country and continent as a racing driver. This and so much more inside. We love hearing back from you across our social media! Let us know what your thoughts are.
Kyama Kivuva Contributors: ManuKyama
Michael Kiruthi, Esq Nyokabi Inoosi Adrian Kibet Ian Macharia Kyama Kivuva
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CR7 Is this why
Cristiano is the most followed person On
Instagram?
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ost followed person translates to ‘most admired person’. If we look at it like that we can ask ‘What makes Cr7 one of the most admired people in the world?’ Well, first things first, there’s his ability to bear the pressure squarely on his shoulders and perform. Case in point the Champions League quarter-final; Juventus played Atletico Madrid and Ronaldo scored a hat-trick that rescued his team from Atletico’s 2 – 0 lead, ending the game at a 3-2 win for Juventus. Ronaldo’s incredible performance sent Juventus stock soaring by about 30% that day. On a deeper level however we admire his discipline and focus. The internet is littered with stories about his insane workout schedule, like how he does a full body workout and training, before heading out to practice with the rest of the team for the official training session or how when house hunting, he refuses to settle for a house that doesn’t allow him
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every single advantage when it comes to his fitness and training regimen. This ability to pin point exactly what it takes to be successful and then go after it with unwavering focus is, in my opinion, the most admirable thing about this super-star athlete. And if we value these traits, then our organisations value them as well. Most modern organizations are set up to reward competence and steady performance. And just like in Cristinao’s case it’s easy to mention but difficult to do. And
it goes beyond our careers and companies; the wild-wild markets, social media and even interpersonal relationship seem to be predicated on this very fact. This is one of the reasons why Elon Musk’s word carries so much weight, he talks a big game, and then somehow finds a way to live up to his absurd claims. He promised to fix Australia’s power problem in 100 days or the project would be free, and proceeded to finish it in 90 days. It’s this ability to create value that most companies covet and actively pursue. And it starts with these 5 points:
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PRIORITISE RUTHLESSLY:
If you want to be the best at something, whether it’s sports, business or your career you have to ruthlessly prioritise the things that build you up to perform at your absolute best. This means that you should practice your craft and outlearn everyone else in your field. A good first exercise is to identify and cut off little bad habits that seem to hold you back. If you can’t fully part with these habits, then figure out how to manage them to a point where they don’t affect your performance. Everyone knows exactly what their unique blend of setbacks is; so list them and figure out how manage them such that they’re not a problem or replace them completely with place-holders that allow you to be at your best.
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It’s unpleasant, and a total chore, however if you stick with it long enough you’ll hit the point where things start to loop back positively and spiral you upwards.
02 TIME:
One thing that’s cliché but true is the fact that time is the most valuable thing that we have. The way we treat our time now is a direct indicator as to what our priorities are and where we’ll be 5 years from now. For someone who is intent on being competent and exceeding expectations, the way you manage your time is an integral part of your daily process. You know excellence when you see it. It often looks like: • Being 15 minutes early for every meeting whether business or personal. • Schedule time to learn more and practise; 15 minutes or an hour a day. If it works for you, do it every day. • Being ahead of schedule with project hand-ins, especially if your boss has fostered a learning environment. Run projects by them and keep an open mind as to how it could have been done better. This is how to build a relationship build a relationship with your boss. • Refuse to have your time wasted. Clearly outline what deserves your time. • Budget your time responsibly. Have enough time to rest and refresh. Being well rested will allow you to be at the top of your game for a lot longer. This is a crucial for longevity. Working through the rest periods means higher risks of burn-outs; whose effects trickle down to almost all other parts of your life.
03 KEEP YOUR MIND SHARP:
Be present and attentive during every meeting or project. This could make all the difference and plays
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a huge role in how everyone perceives you and the quality of your work. Just like everything else, this takes a bit of practice. Start small. Be present during casual conversations or while reading a book. Learn to catch yourself when your thoughts wander and return to the matter at hand.
04 DEAL WITH THE PRESSURE:
If you’re working on anything significant and you understand the risks, then you might feel the pressure to perform. When this moment comes, because it certainly will, you need to keep in mind that this is what you practiced for and that you are equipped to face it! However sometimes, no matter how prepared you are, you’re still nervous. In moments like these you need to take control and calm yourself down. One good way to do this is to slow down your heart-rate. Former Navy Seal, Jocko Willink once talked about how Seals do it. One thing they usually do is breathing exercises that calm them down. A popular one is counting from one to four with each inhale and then again with each exhale.
05 DO MORE, TALK LESS:
You have to take more risks, this is one thing that stands out because it immediately identifies you as a person of action. This is a noble pursuit but it comes with a fair warning, you will fail… a lot! The best way to get through it is to identify the lesson and move on quickly. This is a painful learning process but it is absolutely essential for anyone who wants to accomplish anything significant. The more times you try, the more you learn and eventually get to a point where you’ll know enough to evade your usual pitfalls. Once you have learnt enough lessons you’ll become an obvious choice to lead on new projects because you fully understand how to manage risk and use it to your advantage.
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FEVER PITCH B O O K
R E V I E W
Author
NICK HORNBY Rating
8 out of 10 Comments
GREAT BOOK. INFORMATIVE, RELATABLE, BUT NOT LIFE CHANGING.
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’m not a football fan, any games I watch, I watch due to my proximity to actual fans. My house-mate, on the other hand, is an obsessive football fan, his entire life revolves around it. It’s a hobby, a passion and a career for him. He also happens to be a die-hard Arsenal fan, which made this book exponentially more entertaining to me. Drawing parallels between the two obsessed arsenal fans was fascinating to me. Like Nick, it would be near impossible to imagine my friend without his obsession, it may not be all he is but it shaped him greatly nonetheless.
This is a biography of life as a football fan, it also doubles as a surprisingly informative short history of Arsenal football club from the sixties to the early nineties. It illustrates how a chosen or inherited loyalty (as most sports team loyalties are) to a team can grow beyond obligation or choice into something bone-deep and near unchangeable. Through success and loss, love and heartache, glorious wins and bitter disappointment, till death do you part. There is more loyalty, forgiveness, and understanding in most fan relationship than in most marriages. The book is mostly aimed at a British audience of football fans and certain aspects of the time in question are probably more relevant to such
The truth is this: for alarmingly large chunks of an average day, I am a moron.” A MAGAZINE FOR THE CAREER-PERSON AND ENTREPRENEUR
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an audience such as the socioeconomic issues taking place in that era and the unique way British fans interact with their chosen teams. It is a love story that started in his early teens and lasted the rest of his life, a story about his life, the highs and lows of his day to day living all juxtaposed against his love of football and of Arsenal football club. It’s hard not to love this book, it’s funny, irreverent and relatable in a way most books aren’t. You can’t help but love Nick by the end, he feels like the friend who constantly exasperates you but who you immediately miss when they’re not around to hang out. I learnt more about the specifics of Arsenal and a number of their games than football in general but in the end, this is a book about obsessions, how they shape you and how you and the people in your life learn to live with them.
to explain for someone who is in one and even more difficult to grasp for an outside party but ‘Fever Pitch’ does a good job of explaining how such a relationship could work and it does so in a way that almost makes you jealous of the almost abusive relationship between football fan and football club.
“The natural state of a football fan is bitter disappointment, no matter what the score.”
The book is the story of Nick’s life told through a series of football matches, mostly Arsenal matches with a few other matches interspersed between. It’s hard to describe how good a book like this can be but the author is good at helping you experience life through his eyes. His style is humorous and infectious, filled with anecdotes and truths people rarely acknowledge about themselves. How serious are you about the things you love? Music, football, books? How much of yourself do you give to your passions? How much of yourself should you give? What does loyalty mean? What does it mean to care for something that can’t care back? The dynamics of a unidirectional relationship are difficult
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I can’t recommend this book more for every fan, every football hater and every book lover around. Nick Hornby illuminates the life and love of a football fan. Honestly, if you want an idea of how good this book is I can only tell you that it’s good enough to make you want to be an Arsenal fan even twenty years after it was written. If you’ve ever wondered why people love their teams as much as they do or how a seemingly normal person can descend into extremely irrational and obsessive behavior as long as their club is involved this is the book for you. It’s also a book for all the obsessives out there, Fever Pitch is the acknowledgment of all those thoughts you keep to yourself, the never-ending thoughts that pervade most of your waking moments that you think no one understands, you’re not as alone as you think.
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BEARING THE WEIGHT OF AFRICA’S FLAGS: Athlete mismanagement and its effects A MAGAZINE FOR THE CAREER-PERSON AND ENTREPRENEUR
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ine today is just to ask that you proceed to Morocco, represent us with pride, with excellence, with discipline and show Kenya for what it truly is because you are without a doubt that bright shining star that Kenya is.” President Kenyatta said to the Kenyan team accompanied by the Sports CS Amina Mohamed. “Make us proud,” he added, “we shall pray for you and we shall be glued to our television screens as you challenge the rest of the continent and prove why Kenya is the pride of Africa.” There is a huge difference between the glittering performance we see on TV from our athletes and what athletes have to endure just to get the opportunity to perform. This is an issue that has been a constant point of conflict in the whole of Africa; case in point the commonwealth games in August 2018. Over 200 African athletes and officials who traveled to Australia for the commonwealth games ended up claiming asylum. The games in the city of Gold Coast ended on April 15th. Since the games kicked off, there were numerous reports of athletes not even showing up for their
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games. Some of these who went missing include a third of the Cameroonian delegation, at least six Ugandans and a Rwandan weightlifting coach who never returned from a toilet break while his athlete was still competing. It took a warning by Australia’s Home Affairs Minister that those who overstayed their Visas will be locked up, the missing athletes and officials began to emerge from their hideouts and immediately applied for refugee protection to enable them to stay in the country. About 50 officials are still unaccounted for. During the Rio Olympics in 2016, we saw many African athletes from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria shining however not for their home countries. Yasmin Can, a Turkish athlete kicked ass in both the 5,000 m and 10,000 m races at the European Championships in Amsterdam. The 21-yearold, born in Kenya as Vivian Jemutai, is one of many African athletes who remains a force to reckon with over long-distance track events. In Rio 2016, about 20 Kenyan athletes represented their adopted nations at the three-week sporting extravaganza in the 1,500 m, 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000 m, and 10,000 m races. Nigerians are usually quite good at sprints. Asia’s fastest man is the Nigerian-
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born Femi Ogunode who ran for Qatar. Another Nigerian-born runner Ezinne Okaparaebo flew Norway’s flag in the 100 m race. Kemi Adekoya and Abubakar Abbas, other Nigerian exports represented Bahrain in 400m race. Bahrain also had about 7 Ethiopian adoptees in Rio.
What drives African athletes to change camp? Money: Olympic athletes make a ‘medal bonus’ that varies from country to country depending on which country they Perform for. Being a Gold medalist in Singapore is a definite game-changer:
Mismanagement There are a plethora of cases where Kenyan athletes and officials have been kicked out from their hotel room; the most recent case taking place Aug 19th 2019 when athletes and the women’s volleyball team preparing to represent the country at the Africa Games in Morocco were thrown out of their hotel rooms at the St. Luke’s Hotel along Thika Road on Tuesday night over nonpayment of accommodation bills. The athletes were thrown out of their rooms with their luggage and prevented from leaving the hotel until their bills were paid, with World Champion Julius Yego posting the sorry photos on social media. “At around 5 pm when we came back from training, we were told to leave our rooms with our luggage. They refused to let us leave the hotel until their dues were paid. It is such a shame for us sportspeople to be treated this way,” Yego told Capital Sports. He added; “Apparently what we heard is that the person who was supposed to pay for the bills promised to do that today and when he was called by the hotel, his phone has been off. We have raised the issue with Athletics Kenya and we are expecting them here.”
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Make us proud! We shall pray for you and be glued to our tv screens as...you prove why Kenya is the pride of Africa
Lack of facilities
new pairs to the Kenyan team.
The Kenyan U19 Women Lacrosse team which is currently representing the country at this year’s World Championship earlier this week trended worldwide for the wrong all the reasons. While playing Israel at the tournament in Peterborough, Ontario, the Israelis noticed that their opponents did not have the proper cleats (protrusions on the sole of a shoe) to play. Kenya lost the match 13-4 to Israel. The next day, the Kenyans went to cheer the Israel team, who later donated brand
Lacrosse is a relatively unknown game in Kenya. It is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. Players use the head of the lacrosse stick to carry, pass, catch, and shoot the ball into the goal. The Kenyan team announced the surprise on social media and was met with mixed reactions; some were happy but an overwhelming majority were embarrassed because Kenya seems always to be at the receiving end of charity almost every time.
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Stacey Lee May Q U E E N
O F
S M O K E
A CONVERSATION ABOUT MOTOR CULTURE
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outh Africa is the most unequal country in the world. 25 years of freedom have failed to bridge the divide,” a far-reaching statement that calls into question what a present-day South Africa looks like. “Half of the young people are jobless. Much of the black majority are stuck in the poverty trap.” said the Said Henrick Peterssen, for CNN. There’s a lot of unease with the current state of things in South Africa and it’s expressed through unjustifiable acts like xenophobic attacks. It’s a harsh, high-pressure environment. On the ground, there’s plenty of crime & drug abuse but in the middle of this chaos, around Johannesburg’s Soweto, we see what happens when young Born-Free South Africans come into contact with the traditions that were born deep in the heart of apartheid. Stacey Lee May is a 22-year-old Stunt driver & Spinner. Driving in South Africa’s fastest-growing motorsport, Spinning; A dangerous & thrilling drift-sport has its roots in the Car theft and gangster culture that was rampant in the ’80s. Stacey opens up about her uphill battle to change the face of Spinning in South Africa and show that she’s living proof that plenty of good can come from something that started off ‘bad’.
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What was your childhood like? I had a good childhood, my family was always there for me always supporting me. The year I started school the government wanted to try out this new thing where they would allow kids to join school from the age of 5 years old instead of 7 and Lucky for me, my mom thought it would be a nice opportunity and took me for a test to check if I was ready for school and they approved me. That’s how I ended up being younger than everyone else I was in school with. My family is very close so I’m very familyoriented. We believe that education comes first. We’re Christians; so we respect our religion and we respect other people’s religion. Growing up this way has taught me to be humble and kept me centered. My family has had a huge role in that because they’re there to ensure that I am constantly striving to be the best. I am the eldest of 3 siblings. My sister JaimeLee is 3 years younger than I am, she’s 20 and then there’s my brother Adam who’s 15. I’m more of a racer or drifter. My sister is more of a model, she loves dressing up and looking pretty all the time. And my brother Adam was the naughty one, but he’s also into spinning and cars.
When was the first time you drove a car? (laughs) Well, the first time I drove a car I wasn’t Spinning. I was on break, and my parents left me home and went to work. My mom had this minicooper parked…standing in the yard. So I took a chance and decided that I would teach myself how to drive. When they would leave I would take the car and teach myself how to drive. I was nervous but it was Awesome. That was a few months before I started Spinning. When I started spinning is when I decided things got
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What does spinning mean to you? Spinning means everything to me! It’s the thing that gave me a voice. I was really shy, and this sport helped me break free and learn to speak up for myself. I’m no longer afraid! This sport has taught me that I can do anything that I set my mind to.
a bit freaking. I can remember my hands were shaking, my legs too. I was really nervous… All this was happening when I was around 16. I remember I was bullied a lot in school, kids were really mean. They would tease me, put me in the dustbin or even take my lunch money and my Dad thought that spinning would help me gain confidence and learn to stand up for myself.
Africa and the rest of the world. Because even if the money is not that good yet it’s still giving the youth an alternative to crime and a distraction. For people like me, it helps us gain confidence.
When did Spinning move from a hobby to a career? Spinning is actually just a hobby for me. I do it on the side because right now I’m actually studying law at UniSA, I’m a third-year law student. And like I said before, the money isn’t that good. We have a hard time getting sponsors. It’s growing sport and I know if we keep pushing for it, it could eventually turn into a career.
What is spinning? Spinning is the fastest-growing Motorsport in South Africa. There are actually no rules in Spinning. We just do stunts… freestyle spinning; donuts, 8’s… you just show up and show your skills. It started around the ’80s as part of underground gangster culture in South Africa. Drivers would do stunts with the cars that they obtained illegally. Right now we’re changing the perception of the sport, in South
Every time you spin, you take a risk. Are you ever afraid? I’m never afraid when I’m spinning! I always pray before I get into my car. I ask God to keep me safe and I know He’s got my back when I go into my car, so I carry no fear!
How many female drivers do you compete within Johannesburg and How many female spinners are there in South Africa? In Johannesburg, I’m the only one. In the rest of South Africa there are about 5 female spinners.
I’d definitely want to drive professionally. Maybe a formula 1 driver or a professional stunt driver.
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Why do you think participation for women is low? It’s not tough to get into racing, it’s just really expensive. If you can afford it then you can get a car, learn how to do stunts and get into spinning.
What challenges do you face as a spinner? It’s tough participating in a male-dominated sport. I’m this small girl who’s trying to make a difference and change the perception around an entire sport. I’m here so that when people think about spinning they don’t see gangsters and car thieves, they see me.
What is makes a good spinner? Is it the Driver or their machine? It’s the driver! In any kind of motorsport it, not the car, it’s the driver. If you’re a good driver you can drive anything!
If you had the same car as Lewis Hamilton, do you think you give him a run for his money? I think I could definitely give him a run for his money if we had the same car. I can do what he does, but he can’t do what I can do, So…
How do you deal with the pressure and responsibility of being behind the wheel? When I get into my car, I block everything out; it’s just me, my car and God.
What’s your dream job? My dream job would be something like Kim Kardashian. (Laughs) I mean who doesn’t want to
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be paid for existing. But I’d definitely want to drive professionally. Maybe a formula 1 driver or a professional stunt driver. I’d definitely want to work with the Fast and Furious franchise. I grew up watching those movies and every time I’m doing stunts I’m hoping that Vin Diesel or the Rock would see me and realize that I’m good enough to be in their movies.
Let’s talk about Hyperdrive. You had an incredible performance right before your engine gave out. How did you cope with that experience and what steps did you take to put yourself back together? I was very disappointed that my car chose to break down like that. After my race, I cried for about 15 minutes. My Dad was sitting with me and I was just crying my eyes out. I eventually came to the conclusion that if God wanted me to win this race I would have. Everything works in God’s time and in His favors. I just have to trust that what happened was best for me.
What lessons did you learn from that experience? I learned that you should always believe in yourself and try to be the best you. Be your best self for you, for your family and for your country. Don’t compete or compare yourself with anyone else, just focus on you and keep pushing yourself. Anything is possible if you keep doing that. I mean it had always been my dream to take spinning to international levels and I achieved it just by dreaming big and working very hard.
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What’s been your highest point so far? The highest point in my spinning career would be meeting Charlize Theron. My family could barely believe it. When I look at Charlize I see that anything is possible. She’s South African just like me, and she’s gone really far. I believe that I can go very far as well and that it doesn’t matter what my background is or where I come from. Also that greatness doesn’t come from your circumstances, it comes from what’s inside of you and I know that I have greatness inside of me!
What’s next for Team Stacey? Team Stacey will be heading to Pakistan in the next two weeks to compete in the Mountain Dew Extreme fest. Hopefully, these are open doors to sponsors and we can only hope that people notice us and decide to sponsor Team Stacey.
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WHY
Dangote WANTS TO BUY ARSENAL
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eam ownership is how we crown people in this country!” said Marc Cuban to the character of ‘Bobby Axelrod’ played by Damien Lewis in Billions. A sports team is one of those things that only the elite have, even in the highest ends of the Billionaires Boys Club. In 2017 Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote publicly expressed interest in buying Arsenal (worth $1.9 billion). Why would the African business mogul decide to buy an English Football Club? The irony and political statements aside, billionaires know 3 things well; People, Money and the way both of these things Interact. If they choose to go into team ownership they see it first and foremost as a business.
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things you have to know about Dangote
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He is the 43rd wealthiest person in the world & the wealthiest person in Africa.
In 2014, Dangote was named Forbes Africa Person of the Year 2014.
He sleeps up to 4 hours a day. Think you can manage?
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Billionaires love businesses that have multiple strong revenue streams. And this kind of pluralism is mirrored even in nature. Thomas Friedman, a columnist for the New York Times, says that he learned almost everything he knows about business from observing nature, “She (Mother Nature) said to me, I’m incredibly pluralistic; I’ve tried 20 species of everything to see who wins.” Pluralism is one thing that teams do well. They have so many different revenue streams. Word to the wise though, small & medium-sized businesses should avoid having too many balls in the air at the same time. It’s a very risky thing to attempt. First secure the main business, and then consider different ways to diversify: Clinical depression has surged to epidemic proportions in recent decades, from little-mentioned misery at the margins of society to a phenomenon that is rarely far from the news. It is widespread in classrooms and boardrooms, refugee camps and inner cities, farms and suburbs. At any one time it is estimated that more than 300 million people have depression – about 4% of the world’s population when the figures were published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015. There’s been significant increase in diagnoses across
HOW DOES A CLUB MAKE MONEY? 1. Television: In the 2017/18 English Premier League (EPL) season, the top 20 teams got to split the basket of 2.42 Billion Euros. This number is made up of merit money, facility fees, domestic TV, overseas TV, and central commercialization. • Merit fee: based on their finishing position on the EPL. Bottom of the table West Brom received £1,931,268 in merit money, while every other club received an extra £1,931,268 for every position higher they finished. Second-bottom Stoke received £3,862,536 (2 x £1,931,268), thirdbottom Swansea received £5,793,804 (3 x £1,931,268) and so on. • Facility Fees: Facility fees are based on how many of each club’s games were selected and aired on live TV. To even things out, every side gets a guaranteed £12,312,666, even if fewer than ten of their games were chosen for live TV. The rest get an extra £1,129,879 for each game over ten. For example, Huddersfield had under ten matches on live TV and so collected the £12,312,666, however, Manchester United ended up with £32,650,495 as they had an extra 18 matches shown live. • Domestic TV, Overseas TV, and Central Commercialisation: These numbers are all equal for each club. All 20 sides receive £34,812,558 for domestic TV income, £40,771,108 for overseas TV income and £4,838,892 for central commercialisation (such as sponsors). Manchester United topped the list with a total about 150 Million Euros from TV.
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White Collar AD
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2. Tickets sold Ticket sales account for about 20% of the revenue generated by teams year-round. Real Madrid and Arsenal top the list-making about 131 Million Euros a year (average of about 4.9 Million euros per game). Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester United are the next on the list-making about 121 Million, 109 million and 107 Million Euros respectively. 3. Shirt and Stadium sponsorship The world of Football is saturated with sponsorships. Real Madrid last year agreed to the most lucrative shirt deal in the history of football when they signed a 10-year billion-dollar deal with Adidas. That would mean that the club could be paid up to 120 million euros per season. In addition, sponsorships come through selling naming rights to stadiums. Manchester got revenue from Etihad by naming their stadium Etihad stadium. Arsenal received sponsorships by naming their stadium Emirates Stadium until 2028. 4. Kit sales Short sales are difficult to ignore. Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus resulted in a staggering $6o million
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in sales according to CNBC, dethroning Neymar, whose move to the French giant, PSG, generated a whopping 7.8 million euros worth of jerseys. 5. Player trades Clubs sell players and use the money to buy more players. Small clubs can make profits by selling potentially good players to big clubs at high prices. Neymar in 2017 was moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint Germain for a whopping 222 million euros. In 2015, Liverpool sold Raheem Stirling, a good but inconsistent player to Manchester for £ 49 million. 6. Going Public In as much as football is a massive industry, there are very few clubs that have gone public. As of now, only about two dozen European Football clubs are listed in the stock exchange. Manchester is the largest team in the stock market and its current share price is about 18 dollars. In as much as this arena hasn’t been explored much, there are still potential opportunities IPO offers clubs, such as a chance to generate quick large sums of capital which may be used to finance projects such as stadium expansion, and acquisition of players.
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T H E
I N T E R E S T I N G
C A S E
F O R
B E I N G
A N
ATHLETE INVESTOR “I thought I was set for the rest of my life. My story is sad. It’s sad to see other guys work so hard throughout their life — and then they just lose it.” Antoine Walker told CNN Money. Just two years after his retirement from the NBA, in 2008, Walker found himself declaring bankruptcy. It’s easier to grasp the gravity of this bankruptcy when you find out that he retired with a whopping $ 112 Million. Antione’s case isn’t an isolated one, in the NBA, for instance, a staggering 60% of players go broke within five years of leaving the sport. So many athletes end up with nothing after their intense
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highly-compensated quick-burst careers. Most athletes retire by the age of forty so they need to have a plan in place, on how to stretch the money they made over the rest of the lives or, for the more ambitious of the bunch, use it make more. We are seeing the emergence of the ‘Athlete-Investor’.
Investing in what you understand Most athletes start out close to home by investing in businesses that are tied to their careers. Former Arsenal players, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, and Robin van Persie invested in Grabyo, a real-time video editing, sharing, and streaming online platform for sports
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content. And In 2014, former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player, Kobe Bryant invested 6 million dollars into Body Armour a sports drink founded by Mike Repole and Lance Collins. In 2018 his stake was estimated at 200 million dollars. NBA player Stephen Curry two time MVP reportedly bought an equity stake at CoachUp, a start-up that connects Coaches with Athletes- founded by Jordan Fliegel. Investing in a field that you’re deeply familiar with is a great move, Warren Buffet swears by it. Investing like this significantly cuts down the level of risk because you can foresee the usual pitfalls. It’s a safe move, with fair returns. The rules are different for athletes with god-like celebrity status; they have the muscle to negotiate partnerships with well-established brands. Juventus FC Forward Christiano Ronaldo is currently in a deal with Nike that generated $474 million last year, a big difference from the $88 million that was generated in 2016. As of now Nike and Ronaldo are currently in the middle of negotiations for a lifetime partnership worth $1 billion. This is staggering, but it’s a once in a generation type of deal. Most athletes have to think on their feet and figure to use the influence and wealth at their disposal to make an income. For
those with fame and popularity endorsements are a natural choice. Since retiring in 2011, Shaq is bucking the trend in spectacular fashion – and encouraging others to do the same. After earning nearly $300 million during his lucrative 19year basketball career, Shaq now makes more each year than the $30 million salary he earned playing in the NBA, he said in an interview for HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. That’s because off-the-court, the former NBA championturned-entrepreneur has built an impressive business empire, investing in everything from fastfood restaurants to the latest tech gadgets, in addition to plenty of lucrative endorsements. At one point, Shaq owned 155 Five Guys restaurants – equivalent to 10% of the company’s entire franchise portfolio. Although he told CNBC that he has since sold his stake, he did admit that the burger business had been “very good” to him. One athlete, in particular, has strayed pretty far from the beaten path; F1 champion Nico Rosberg has placed his weight behind start-ups. He’s closely studied the work of Elon Musk and Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Warren Buffet for years and then channeled the same focus, determination, and Intensity that he used at F1 to investing
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with his role models and like them. His portfolio ventures far afield to companies such as Lyft, What3words and Musk’s SpaceX. Rosberg, at 34 years old, remains active in the racing world and on his popular YouTube vlog, but the intense focus he developed as a driver is now directed at startups. The study of “impact technologies,” which Rosberg defines as technologies that will “change the world for the better without taking anything away from the present,” has led him to explore companies around the globe, from Silicon Valley to China. Rosberg spoke about his unusual transition from ultimate gearhead to an enlightened investor at a Young Successors Program. The odds are slim for athletes, especially after retirement. Their only hope is to concentrate that same determination and focus that they’ve learned over their intense sports career into figuring out how to make their money, make money. Those that learn, survive! Those that don’t, more often than not, lose everything.
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A MAGAZINE FOR THE CAREER-PERSON AND ENTREPRENEUR