A LESSON FOR CORPORATES FROM THE INEOS 1:59 CHALLENGE.

As the INEOS euphoria goes to its twilight, the hardcore fans of athletics and sports, in general, will finally have peace. The trouble of explaining why sub 2hrs is such a big deal will fade away. Why a full marathon is 42.2 Km and not 35Km, 50Km or 28 Km. For the love of humanity, someone had to explain what would happen if Eliud decided to take a shortcut to the finish line. Well, enough with my digression. Be honest, did you google or try to find out the meaning of INEOS? That was the design. Well if you didn’t, I think you are due for a check-up. I have a problem with the level of your inquisitiveness. Yes, I am that nosy. While curiosity killed the cat, lack of it doesn’t guarantee the 10th life either.

INEOS is a top multinational chemical company and a giant as measured by revenue. You have also heard of this guy, Jim Ratcliffe, who is the founder with a shareholding of, 60%? Well, enough introduction. How do i know? What are the lessons? I don’t want this chance to just go away. It will be a disappointment if we took this just as a season of brilliance and let it pass, hoping and waiting for the next big thing to come to Africa from Europe. Yes, from Europe. See many countries in Africa are celebrating 55-60yrs since independence. Great feat but are we that independent? I mean independent in thought, trend, innovation or even business gumption? Can we compete with the best in the world for bright moments? Clearly, with Eliud’s performance, and many more, the answer to my question is YES! We are full of talent, thought and our potential is at the elastic limit. Relevance? Our people lack support. Do we have brands that can be globally recognized? Yes! Circumspection aside. Our brands lack the “INEOS’ light bulb moment.

Before you castigate me with the “create your future” philosophies, look at what Kipchoge achieved and then marry that with what INEOS commanded through Ratchliffe’s initiative. Stroke of genius! As much as I commend Jim for his action, deep down I know that; it is not from the benevolence of Ratcliffe that Eliud got an opportunity to achieve his dream but from Jim’s regard to his self-interest. This is what the congruence of interest does. Finally, after the long ride, I hope you can now get my point. Our corporates have let our talents down and in the process, lost big opportunities of being at the center of the world. The future of these industries is already here, it’s their decisions and actions that will help in distributing it evenly.

I do accept that we have corporates who do a lot for society. My admiration without taking any brilliance away from the rest goes to Equity Bank’s wings to fly scholarships. Great as it may be, our focus has mostly been on individual intellectual empowerment. Scholarships will probably go to a tenth of the top academic quartile. The rest of the world has embraced the potential in the diversified talents. The largest demography is not in the class of academic brilliance. Again, that alone cannot guarantee success without the input of the real producers. A few corporates have supported sports but only with a warm touch, I might say. No one has gone all out. Sportpesa was a good example here but only for a while, long story. So what is it that i would ask from the corporate world? It is not a waste of funds to focus on individual talent in performing arts and sports to achieve the right publicity for your brands.

While some organizations do this as part of CSR, let me point it out clearly that this is a serious brand positioning and awareness initiative. It can help you easily connect with your customers and probably lock out some of your competitors. Stars and celebrities do not shine from home by performing for their friends and family. They are made through exposure. By putting rigor on it, the sporting and performing arts industry can be as huge as it is in the first world countries. By having a sportsperson putting on your colors and brands, the viewer’s curiosity is driven to searching more about you. The star person is only left with focusing on “doing his thing”. No distractions. It’s a shared or interdependent springboard. Artists and Sportsmen are an industry by themselves. Their confluence with a manufacturer, a banker or hospitality can yield unimaginable potential for both. The multiplier to the economy cannot be overemphasized.

Companies like Nike, Adidas, and Puma have gained brand presence by having top athletes don their logos. Artists have gone on promotion tours through corporate endorsement. I mean empirically this is what we fail to do. When we do it, we are just warm. I know the people sitting in those top management offices know these things but if it takes my nosiness to remind them, then it doesn’t matter where the trigger came from, the bullet will be as hot as it ought to be. Tiger woods, Ronaldo, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Messi, Michael Jordan… these people are not rich only because they have talent. NO! These people are rich because someone took a good bet on them and paid its worth. Beyonce, J.K Rowling, Drake, Coldplay… these people get serious endorsements. The endorsers are shrewd business people. They get a proper return on investment, yes, shaken together. With many brands coming together, it is easy to earn business relationships and alliances with equally ambitious brands. Brand visibility is boosted by the emotions that come with stardom ecstasy. I will not even mention the community goodwill that comes with endorsing talents. See, people don’t like being sold to. The first reaction is to resist. However when you softly get into their lives, they associate with you, you are in their souls. How many think that INEOS is a bad brand? It will take time before the happy and feel-good experience about INEOS gets out of people, if ever. Does that mean that they were able to generate leads? Yes! I will not even wait for their management to tell us what they achieved. I am sure they are overwhelmed.

Challenge? This goes to the local brands. Many corporates are no longer nouveau riche, they need to break borders. Whether they want to go national or international, Jim’s story is perfect. Can Mpesa be as global as Visa, MasterCard or PayPal? Can they lift several Kipchoges and Kosgei’s with them? These corporates need to visit the Kenya National Theatre. Who knows, they might land the next Lupita right there. Come to think of it, Lupita’s endorsement while at Phoenix could have come at a good bargain. Right now, your brand would be flying global. This idea that you have to endorse products or people who closely resemble with your brand is a little tired. You can frame your endorsement to suit your goal. Today, Eliud Kipchoge is sleeping happily having achieved his goal, stellar. He described it as going to the moon and back. Similarly, today, a petrochemical multinational is basking in the sun while their competitors wonder how they missed that. Our moment of pleasure was fleeting sublunary but INEOS will ride this tide for a long while. Masterstroke.

Kanji John. Management and Financial Consultant.