 here on Y254. I've just been watching the best of plays by legendary basketball player Kobe Bryant. It is a tribute to one of the best players to have ever played the game of basketball here in the world. I'm Ropa Rosso, and I'm joined by one person who understands and knows basketball. It is in her DNA. That is the founder and CEO of Sports Connect Africa, Cynthia Mumbo. Cynthia, welcome to the touchlight on Y254. Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you. Thank you very much for hosting me once again. Welcome. Big news that we have here, sad news that we start in the world of sports here today, Kobe Bryant, the passing of Kobe Bryant. You were in the generation growing up during the Kobe Bryant era. Was it personal for you? Kobe is gone. Very, very, very. I mean, I never met him. I would have really loved to meet him, but I used to mimic him. I loved his, I don't care, attitude. I mean, go out there and do whatever it is that you have to do. He didn't, he didn't mince his words about that. He's, was it time 41? Yes, it was just done 41 after one. 41, right? So, just a few years, maybe three years older than myself. Yeah. Three, four years older than me. So, we were pretty much in the same age group. And Kobe, for me, he stood for resilience. He stood for humanity in the sense that I've made mistakes. He wasn't afraid of his, his mistakes. He didn't let those bog him down, you know, bog him down rather. He was about, you know what, for get up, get moving. But when you move, move to a level that people just either move for you. Yes. Or they look at you and they say, we want to be like you. Yeah. And a big one for him that he was drafted immediately from high school to join the NBA. How big of a talent was he when he was playing? I'm not sure if he was a fast, but I think he was one of the fastest. One of the fastest. Yes, to move directly from, from high school to the NBA. That tells you something about his character. Yeah. Just, I think yesterday or the day before I saw a picture on Twitter of a gentleman who was talking about Kobe's story. And it was Kobe when he was 12 years old, when he was living in Italy. Yes. And, and this kid at 12 was throwing three pointers on grownups. Yeah. And this man's memory was really a true testament to what Kobe was, even at the age of 12. A real vivid memory. Right. Even at 12 years old, he didn't care about, you know, who was, what or what, he just wanted to do his thing and do it well. So he's, he's definitely going to be missed. Kobe Bryant will be missed, but most of the conversations now is, where does it lie in history? When it comes to the history of the NBA and the history of basketball, where do you rank Kobe Bryant? For me, he's the best. Yeah. For me, I mean, you know, sports people, it's a messy and, and now it's a kind of conversation. He was talented and he used to say that all the time. I'm extremely talented, but I work very hard. Kobe would be in the court way before his teammates would, after his teammates would leave, you know, he would still be there. He went beyond his human capabilities. So when you look at, you know, players at that global level, very few come and go, I mean, the NBA has stars. By the time that you're getting into playing the NBA, you're, you know, you're a, you're a, you're a special gift in yourself. Yes. But for you to get to the level that Kobe got to. Yeah. Where you're, you're the definition of basketball. Yes. For a generation. That is rare. Yeah. That's very rare. He will not be forgotten. Yeah. He will, he is, he's up there with Larry Bart. He's up there with, with Michael Johnson. He is, he is, you know, from I'm putting him up there. I would say Larry Bart. Larry Bart. Yeah. Like he is, he's Kobe. I mean, how many, how many basketball players do you know who are named by one name? No, no one. Only Kobe. Only Kobe. Yeah. All the others of Kobe. Even LeBron is LeBron James. Kobe is Kobe. Yeah. And the legacy that he lives, it's a big legacy for everyone who is coming up. For people who don't know Kobe Bryant, now is when they are learning, oh, we've got, someone used to be called Mambo. He had that attitude of Mambo when he gets onto the basketball court. That is a big legacy that he has left for us in the world of sports and the world. Yeah. And we know that Kobe Bryant is gone yesterday. The Lakers lost 127, 119 to the Portland Trail Blazers. But I know they will be back and LeBron deliver championship for them anytime soon. LeBron is LeBron. Yeah. It's possible. It's possible. The thing about LeBron is that he's a builder. Yeah. I mean, he gets in there and he puts pieces together. Yeah. And he's a no-nonsense player as well. So, you know, the generation after ours, they know LeBron. Yeah. So, he says he's going to take over the mantle from Kobe. A lot of these players really looked up to Kobe. He was like the big brother after Jordan. Yes. It was Kobe and then, you know, now LeBron, all these kids were looking up to LeBron. Yeah. And LeBron is one of those human beings that, you know what, when he says he's going to do something, you sit there and watch and say, okay, he said it. Yeah. But he puts in the work. Yeah. I mean, with sports, nothing is impossible. Yeah. It's just a matter of sitting there watching and saying, let's see how it's going to go. The NBA is also very different now. Yeah. It's more competitive. Yeah. So, we'll see how that goes. Big one there for us. It is the Y-2-4 on the touch and I'm Robert Osodo and I'm joined by the C.O. Sports Connect Africa Central Mumble and we are just giving you a tribute of Kobe Bryant who passed away last week. But away from that, let's now turn back to our own basketball here in the country. Before we talk about the morons and how they have been performing, I've got to ask you about your baby project, the Vikapu Elite. How is it going so far? Vikapu Elite Basketball Academy is doing really well. Yeah. We are now in our third year. Absolute blessings. We have our first, I would say, class who have sort of graduated. Yes. So, you know, they all looked at me and they said, Miss, we've finished the program. What are you going to do with us? Yeah. We're starting the team. They said, oh, wow, okay. And they're doing amazing, amazing stuff. So, last weekend, they were together with the coaches at the Administrator Grace, they were at Mamu High School. So, we're now doing outreach programs to high schools, which we weren't doing before. And, you know, the amazing thing about the Vikapu program is that we're not just about basketball. We're very, very interested in the wholesome growth of this development of these young individuals. One amazing thing is this class that just completed, we had four kids, four or five kids who just did their high school exams. We had three A's and one B+. Wow, that's big for them. Many parents tell their kids, get them out of basketball. We tell parents out of sports or out of art or out of stuff that keeps them like occupied. We tell parents, allow the kids to play. Allow the kids to play, but what happens is, have a balance. So, what we do with Vikapu is the kids come into the program and we really encourage them to put in their minds into their schoolwork as well. Meaning that we'll be seeing them when the CUSA games turn up, because now they've been the major universities in town. That's what we're hoping for. Ultimately, our program, the idea is to get scholarships both locally and internationally. We're working together with a partner organization in the US and hopefully this year we'll have two or three of them join universities abroad. We've had one of them who went to Spain for a tryout, but he's back. The idea is, not everybody is a superstar, but everybody is a star. The idea is to get them that exposure and get them enjoying the game, but also growing as individuals. This year we've planned a couple of trips. Last year we did tours. We realized that just playing locally is good, but what about the opportunity to open up their minds to what else is out there? So we went to Dar es Salaam and we went to South Africa. We went to Uganda. This year we plan on going to Rwanda, South Africa. Uganda and Dar es Salaam as well. That's a big calendar for you when it comes to your calendar this year in 2020. That's just the tours. We've not talked about the tournament which we had the first one last year. So we're expecting another one this year. And it's going to be bigger, but we had a tournament for under 14-year-olds. And it's as local as it gets. So we want to do the same thing. We know that there's going to be heavy basketball with the NBA coming in to do whatever it is that they do across Africa. They're the NBA development program. Not just the program. Remember that the NBA is setting up its basketball league. So what will that league look like in 10 years? I want Vikapu Elite players to be major in that African league in the local league. And why not? That's a big one for us. So far, how does your calendar look like for this year? We've already started our weekend programs. We have weekend programs every Saturday at Strathmore University. And then in April August and December we'll have our holiday programs. And those start on the second weekend of the holiday. In between we then do the tours. Our biggest period is the August holidays. We call that the summer holidays. And then also the December one when the 844 have closed. But the summer holidays when the GCSE and international schools have closed. So within that period we have the August holidays is when we have the longest holiday program. And then the tournament is now what we hold in December. And then we have a tour in December as well. Big one for Vikapu Elite. Any other projects away from Vikapu that you're working on? Because I know you're DNA's basketball player in the country. Well, yes, we have something coming up but I don't want to talk about it yet. When I'm ready I'll share. But you know Sports Connect Africa basketball is not the only thing that we do. So I just came back from a trip to London. There's a project that we're working on. And if that works out we'll be very exciting. We're working on an integration to applications for EPL clubs to connect with African to the African market. That's a big one. That's a huge one. I told you I'm like holy why not. I did just to be done. Yes, why not. Fail forward. Keep trying. It's never easy but just get out there and do it. You only stop yourself. And then last weekend also we had the Afro basketball qualifiers here which we won against South Sudan and now we are heading on to the main qualifiers. How big a success was that event here in the country? It was amazing. We have to really one comment KBF for hosting the tournament. It's not an easy feat to host a tournament like that. My director is pressuring me to ask that question. That is the one that came to mind. During that game people talk about funds turning out for basketball events, basketball games and everything. But that day that game was about even to be cancelled by the FIFA officials because of the fun turn around. The turn up was really huge. I say this every day and I say this with lots of kindness. It's a basketball nation. But sports business and sports marketing, we have no clue. You have to have consistency. Why do you know of Kobe? Why do you know the brand? How do you interact on your social media platforms? Who owns the narrative when it comes to the NBA? They are very particular and very close to their heart in terms of how they manage the brand. Let's look at this event. What did you know about it? The biggest thing was that we are having Luol Deng coming on to the country. We have the Moran. Which is painful for me. Because you know about Luol Deng but you didn't know about the Kenyan bit. And so we didn't own the narrative. And that for me is a marketing conversation. It doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with the generation per se. It's just that there is a lack of capacity and capability around that area. And it's something that we need to work on. I see it as an opportunity. We saw the last day being full. I can tell you the whole week Nyaio was packed. The whole week Nyaio was packed. But many people didn't know what this tournament was going on. There was lots of word of mouth. Not necessarily being pushed from a marketing point of view. I'm not blaming anybody. I'm just saying that there is an opportunity. Unfortunately marketing is an investment conversation. And whether it is resources, whether it's money whether it's resources, it is people's time who are putting in their time. There has to be a plan around it. There has to be objectives that you want to achieve. You have to understand who the client is. When you look at the last game 60% of the fans that came were South Sudanese. What do we understand about the South Sudanese? Many of them came from a war-torn space. If you look at the age group that was there, over 60% again were between the age of 18 and 25. Actually the average age that was in that stadium including Kenyan guys was about 24-25. What does that tell you? You need to preempt that. You need to understand that before the tournament comes. So that you plan for that. You have Luol Deng who is an African icon when it comes to the NBA. Kenyans will just want to come and see him. He is a beacon of hope for these young South Sudanese athletes. Not just athletes but even the fans. They look up to him so much. He is a little god to them. This is Luol man. If Luol is coming then how do you capitalise on that and work with him beforehand to say how are we going to push this agenda so that it is inclusive for everybody and it adds value to everybody. I think that for me is the way I would have looked at it. In terms of planning that we are seeing from a consumer perspective. Who is the consumer of this game? What is it that they are looking for? How do they consume the game? What kind of experience do we want to give them? Do we have toilets or do we not? The facility. How good is the facility? How good is the experience that we want to give them? What do we want to be remembered for? The technical bit which I think was absolutely perfect. You cannot touch anything around that. But when you come to the business and the commercial conversation and the eventing conversation, I think there is definitely an opportunity for us to do better. Kenya have already qualified and they are going to be playing Senegal, Mozambique in the Africa Stopments Tournament in 2021. How good were we as the morons? Because last year was a big year when we came around to this one. How good is that team so far? I am so proud of the moron team. Let's give credit where it is due. KBF and their partner have done an amazing job with regards to investment behind the team. I remember bringing the Ghana Revenue Authority basketball team for a tour last year. This is the second time we are bringing them on tour. That was the second time. They beat our national team. With Coach Cliff, I know we weren't prepared but that kind of woke us up. The investment that the chairman has put in is very personal with that team. The investment the players have put in both as individuals and as a unit. They have a very strong team manager who has been doing an amazing job behind the scenes. And the rest of the Federation, what they have done with that team is absolutely commendable. Those boys have put in their work and they have to honestly be commended for it. Going to Mali, coming in second in the tournament that they went for. People were wondering, morons, who are these? These morons who are coming up this big. I had a conversation with one of them. I can't remember if it was Okaal or Gundo. It was so hilarious because he told me he was walking in Toy Market and everyone was like moron moron and he was confused because usually they are just told Kenyans walking amongst short Kenyans but everyone could remember them. That's really an amazing story. I think basketball fans in Kenya hope for. My hope is that that same push can be given to the girls and we can be remembered for what we are a true basketball nation. A big one for us. As we finish this conversation, I want to ask you about you worked on the deal that brought in the broadcast partner to KBF and now you have a broadcast partner. How has that been helping so far? It's one year down the line. I didn't work on it. Yes, that was not my project. I do not take credit where it is not mine. I can say that they've done an amazing job for the game. Putting our games on live. Again, the conversation goes behind what do we put in for the experience so we can be seen on TV. But then what does that look like? What kind of package is going out there? We can now have statistics, we can now have a conversation, we can now build a story behind our players, we can build a story behind the league. It's fantastic. The question now is what do we put behind the league so that there is some sort of consistency? What do we put behind the league so that it looks better? What do we put behind the facilities that we're using? How do we move the game beyond Nairobi so that it can be felt out of the city centre, out of the city and into the rest of the country? How do we build the content that we have and push that beyond just social media? I know that they're getting a license for free to air. I think that's a really fantastic move that will change a lot in terms of the sporting conversation. That's a really fantastic move. I didn't work on it. So a lot of respect to whoever put it together and I think it's a good thing for basketball. That has been the Sierra Sports Connect Africa. What games will you be following this afternoon? Today? Which sport? That's a good question. Let me just say I'm going in for a good meeting so it's unfortunate I'm not watching any sports today. Thanks a lot for coming. We really appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me and thank you for the viewers taking the time to watch me. Thank you. Alright, it is way to fight for. We have been showing you a big competition on KBC Channel 1. It's called Futsal. What is Futsal? Here for Know Your Sport, we learn about a new sport called Futsal.