Nick Mwendwa explains why football remains tough investment for African entrepreneurs
Reading Time: 2min | Sun. 05.07.26. | 18:34
The former FKF boss feels that it will take a while before African football bursts to a level where money is no longer a problem
Former FKF President, Nick Mwendwa, has opened up on why African entrepreneurs are shying away from investing in football.
The African football market, including Kenya, has proven difficult to attract significant investors over the years, with the majority of clubs being owned by corporate organizations as marketing tools.
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Having led Kenyan football for nine years ,and as the proprietor of FKF Premier League side Kariobangi Sharks, Mwendwa shared his opinion on the scarcity of investors in the game.
“The main issue with football is that it has not reached a point in Africa where clubs are profitable save for Morocco and a little bit of South Africa, Algeria and Egypt.
Even in those countries, the governments are investing in the game but clubs are still barely profitable,” said Mwendwa.
The 46-year-old went ahead to draw lessons from Egyptian giants: Al Ahly and Zamalek who have established themselves as African football powerhouses over the years.
“Even Zamalek and Al Ahly are not profitable. Al Ahly is the biggest club in Africa and can be profitable because it has about 1.5 million members contributing to it but it is still a headache.
In Kenya and largely Africa, it is more of a social kind of environment to get the kids to play and probably have a few to get to Europe,” he added.
Additionally Mwendwa, who runs a multi-billion Fintech company as well as a large scale poultry farm among other businesses, pointed out to the time consuming nature of football as a disadvantage to investors.
“The problem with football is that it will take your time. I could not do my chicken farming while still active in football. I had my tech business but football was taking much more time than it. As a result, your business can suffer.
You have to make an informed choice and know that yours will be to give and not to earn. The question now comes as to whether you are able to give for many years and if so, can you still survive?”