It is said, if at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself up and try again, right? But what if, just what if you dust yourself and try again, only to fall harder? Do you then wake up, press repeat and try again? Sometimes life’s challenges can bring you to a standstill, more so for entrepreneurs; for as we all know it’s not an easy road. However when you take the challenge and decide to rise higher, and get back to the ring that knocked you out in the first place, it’s only uphill from there.
Cynthia began her entrepreneurship journey without knowing where it would take her. She did not have the funds. All she had was a passion for sports, and she believed somehow the rest will fall into place. After making several mistakes along the way, both in business and in her life, she kept trudging along, and soon enough her victory came. Due to her persistence, last year was a rewarding one for her. The 35-year old successfully managed the basketball operations for the Jr NBA League in Nairobi, Kenya. Further to that, she consulted for the French football club Olympique de Lyon, one that propelled her international image even further. As 2017 came to an end, a year that saw many entrepreneurs suffer due to the political instability in the country, she finished strong as she was appointed a Board Member for the Hype Sports Foundation.
Cynthia Mumbo, a mother of a handsome son, had only one dream when she was growing up; to be an international sports athlete. However when that did not work out, she took a detour and landed in the sales and marketing path, where she worked in the sales department as an intern for a year at Sameer Africa (Now Yana Tyres) and later as a sales representative for five years. She proceeded to EABL (East Africa Breweries Limited), still in the sales department where she worked for about three years. She then moved to Menengai Oil Refineries where she was the Head of Marketing and to Chandaria Industries for a short stint as Marketing Manager. During her last employment stint she realised she was no longer happy. She had been confined behind a desk and she was miserable.
The Turning Point
When Cynthia was young, she was a complete lover of sports. Growing up in Kibera Estate, she began jogging at the age of 13 years. Her fondest memory was when her good friend Benjamin Ayimba, former Kenya Rugby Coach, and his friend Sally would spend time with her and her friends as they participated in various sports events. She would watch them practice and admire them. Further to that, they would come to their estate and conduct sporting events. Cynthia would always win the 100m and 200m races and Benjamin would award her with his medals. She would hold them dear to her heart as that was quite an inspiration to her. It also helped that her mother and father were sports enthusiasts. The whole family spoke the universal language of sports. The love for sports helped her sail through her employment years. What started as a hobby that made her happy – at a time when her career made her unhappy – turned into her opportunity to become an entrepreneur. Having resigned from employment, Cynthia began to play varsity basketball for Kenyatta University and USIU; and companies like NSSF and Sprite. It was this love for sports that got her into the Executive Committee for the Kenya Basketball Federation Kenya at an early age of 25. She served for six years before she called it quits and started her company, Sports Connect Africa (SCA).
Sports Connect Africa – The Journey
At 26 Cynthia was the National Manager for the Kenya National Basketball team leading them to the All Africa Games in Mozambique. During this time, Cynthia was one of the pioneers to bring the Kenya Basketball Team on DSTV’s Supersports platform. All along her journey, as she ventured into the sports world through basketball, Cynthia would marvel at how far she would have gone if someone had taken a special interest in her athletic abilities. She always felt that she could have turned out a better athlete and because she didn’t, she wanted to do it for someone else. As a result, Sports Connect Africa was born.
In the five years since she started her business in 2012, her company has expanded to become a full-service sports firm with corporate clients both local and international. Her dreams changed from the opportunity to retire from a corporation to being the leader of a business from where her employees may retire. She is proof that God’s plan for her was bigger than her dreams, and that God’s timing is always perfect. And so it was that when the National Basketball Association (NBA), the global Standard Identity (SI) unit for basketball excellence, was looking for a company to deliver their junior NBA program in Kenya, they worked with Sports Connect Africa as an implementing organisation of Junior NBA League, making history. They are currently looking to launch the second edition of the Jr NBA League in Nairobi having successfully run the first one in 2017. The league hosts 30 schools with 450 participants. Managing the basketball operations for the Jr NBA League in Kenya is undoubtedly one of her greatest highlights.
Sports Connect Africa is involved in connecting sports stakeholders in Africa by improving the capacity of sports managers and businesses in the continent through workshops, mentorship programs and event management. This was born out of a deep need that Cynthia had throughout her life; to make a difference in the sports industry. Having served at an executive level at the KBF (Kenya Basketball Federation), she had noticed the gaps in the industry. Her main aim for working in the corporate sector as she built her sports brand little by little was to understand how the corporate world works. Many a time, well-meaning initiatives always find their way into various companies, looking for sponsorship; and most times it’s a lack of understanding of how the systems work in the inner sector that disqualifies them from getting the much needed partnerships.
Cynthia was aware that to communicate with corporate companies, she needed to understand and speak their language. Further to that, she feels there is a big gap in understanding sports business from a commercial perspective and also a big gap in sports management from an international perspective. She wanted to re-write our sports management narrative. The company also does sports consulting with a bias in sports marketing. Young people matter, and Cynthia has always had a passion for them. She has always felt that the young generation is in dire need of mentorship. Physical activity has always been about working, connecting and expressing yourself. Cynthia felt that through sports she could provide a mentorship environment for the young ones. She started the Vikapu Elite Basketball Camp in line with her vision, and to date she has successfully done two camps.
Coming from a secure foundation of a monthly paycheck, Cynthia plunged head first into the deep end. From an early age, she was never one to shy away from a risk. She always took risks and big ones at that, with the motto, “Go big or go home!” guiding her. For some reason, this time however, Cynthia was a tad scared. She kept testing waters, being lukewarm about her venture, but due to some experiences that were not going too well for her, she decided to take her company seriously and work hard at it. Charting a path is never easy. Starting out as an entrepreneur is extremely hard, and Cynthia nonetheless has struggled a lot. Finances were strained, business was slow, and many a time, she felt like giving up. If it wasn’t for the fact that her son would look at her in those moments when she was experiencing serious doubts and in his innocent voice tell her, “Mama, when I grow up, I will come and work in Sports Connect Africa,” she would have given up a long time ago.
Four years later into the business, she got an opportunity, to connect golfers around the world, and so she held the first sporting event dubbed the GEC (Global Enterprise Connect). They had 140 golfers in attendance, all who are in the C-suite executives and the top three won an opportunity to play in the GEC finals in Dubai. In addition to the NBA, the client base has grown to include Olympique de Lyon of France and SCA had set up the first sports business mixer in Nairobi. In November of 2017, Cynthia was co-opted as an Advisory Board Member of the Hype Sports Foundation, a global network of sports innovators, investors and startups with over 23,000 members from across the world. She is the only member from Africa.
On Strategy, Wins and Muscle
Cynthia started the Sports Connect Africa as a sole proprietorship but graduated to a Limited Liability Company, comprising of a team of eight who work on a project basis. Her parents, her true support system, also came on board and now serve as directors. She started the company with an initial investment of Ksh.400,000 which mainly went into equipment and travel in search for business. However along the way Cynthia has learnt how to keep her overheads at a bare minimal. For marketing, she has relied on the goodwill that she has maintained over her years in the corporate world; and social media has done her a lot of justice in growing her business. For the GEC event, Cynthia was approached by the Dubai office through her LinkedIn profile. Word of mouth has helped her business to some level too. She also uses email marketing to her advantage, making cold calls and being bold, joining networking sites, and pitching her company to the masses.
Her business can be both fulfilling and frustrating. For fulfilment it’s easy. Having handled two big events of heavy magnitude, Cynthia’s joy is definitely complete. However most companies take 30 to 60 days to pay and she sometimes if not most often finds herself caught in between a rock and a hard place from a cash flow perspective. Where it seemingly looks like she is holding high end events and having all the money in the world, her bank account tells a different story! Cynthia finds herself probably taking a loan to manage other upcoming events, as she waits for her other events to pay off and build the business. Having people believing in her brand to be the ultimate connector of sports from international waters to Kenya proves daunting if not challenging, and Cynthia finds herself working harder for people to believe in her. Having the right workforce is also a challenge, for she finds that the lack of consistency causes a dent in her business.
An avid reader, Cynthia’s favourite author is Auma Obama. And on women who inspire her, Mrs. Radhika Lee, Founder and Owner of Nairobi International School; Terry Nzomo, a health and wellness guru; Audrey Chang Founder and Director of Moringa School and Christine Khasina-Odero, Founder and Owner of Supamamas; make it to the top of her list. Not only do these women have successful enterprises of their own, but in addition they have dared to defy the odds to be who they are today. On muscle, five years from now, Cynthia foresees her company being the home of sports innovation in Africa and one that has changed and influenced lives across the continent.
To all the entrepreneurs out there, Cynthia employs the Nike principle: “‘Just do it!’ Failure is part of success so fall down, get up, and learn from every experience, because failure is part of learning. Value your support system.”
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