Fallen Ghai broke fresh ground in local sports marketing

What you need to know:

  • His remains will be interred on Tuesday at Kariokor Cemetery in Nairobi.
  • The cortege will leave Aga Khan Hospital at 10:00am for prayers at Arya Samaj Temple between 11am to 12;45pm.
  • Cremation will be done at 2pm.

Former chairman of Kenya Cricket Association (Cricket Kenya’s precursor) and Kenya Table Tennis Association, Sharad Ghai, who passed away on Saturday morning at Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, was a genius and architect of sports marketing in Kenya.

His remains will be interred on Tuesday at Kariokor Cemetery in Nairobi. The cortege will leave Aga Khan Hospital at 10:00am for prayers at Arya Samaj Temple between 11am to 12;45pm, according to Kenya Table Tennis Association chairman Andrew Mudibo.

Cremation will be done at 2pm.

Ghai, born in 1965, had tried everything for table tennis but realised his breakthrough was in sports marketing and his ride was cricket and football. He brought in sports such corporate like Kenya Breweries Limited, Safaricom, Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Emirates and British Airways.

By the time he exited the scene, Sharad had brought into cricket and football in excess of Sh1 billion in sponsorship. But he was haunted out of the scene by jealousy and backstabbing “for failing to spread the bread that he had earned.”

But is in 1994 that Ghai realised the short journey Kenya should take to develop cricket talent by convincing Cricket Kenya, then known as Kenya Cricket Association (KCA), to bid for the ICC Associate Members Cup in Nairobi by bringing in major tournaments to Kenya to help local players challenge the best in the world.

Ghai’s involvement with cricket was instrumental in bringing the 1996 four-nation tournament involving Sri Lanka, South Africa, Pakistan and Kenya to Nairobi.

The other tournaments were the 1998 tri-nations tournament featuring Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Kenya, the 1999 LG four-nation tournament featuring India, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, the 2000 ICC knock-out trophy that featured all Test-playing nations and Kenya, the 2000 Pakistan tour of Kenya, the 2001 Kenya’s tour to South Africa for tri-nations tournament involving South Africa, India and Kenya, the 2003 World Cup match in Nairobi between Kenya and Sri Lanka and 2005 tournament in which India ‘A’ and Pakistan ‘A’ teams toured Kenya for two and a half months.

This gave Ghai the impetus to exploit the virgin sports marketing territory in Kenya by starting Mediaplus Sports marketing firm in 1998 to manage various sponsorships as well as television business.

He teamed up with South Africa-based Direct to Broadcasting (DTB) and STV and KTN in Kenya to television cricket, rugby and football events in free-to-air channel which gave Super Soprt a run for the money.

But the deal didn’t last after Ghai refused to cede some shares in Mediaplus to some South African investors.

Ghai was the first person to bring high-profile sporting events in Kenya namely 1989 555 table tennis World Cup, 1991 table tennis Commonwealth championships and 2000 ICC Mini World Cup. He thus started Mediaplus Sports marketing firm.

He also introduced live television coverage for internatrional tournaments hosted in Kenya, with the 1999 LG Four Nations Cup topping the list which Mediaplus sold to Trans World International for US3 million dollars (around Sh309 million at the current exchange rate).

After spending his entire life in business selling everything including farm inputs, his last venture was maize buying in the Rift Valley which he started in 1995. Ghai changed careers and the reward was instantaneous.

In 1996, he burst into the limelight like a colossus dumbfounded everybody including himself. By 2005 when he left cricket management, Kenya had kissed heaven before falling back to earth with a thud.

Ghai professionalised cricket, brought money to football and left the world of business agape. He made a fortune for himself which the taxman took away until Nairobi Chief Magistrate Aggrey Muchelule saved him from embezzlement charges of up to US$4.3 million (Sh435 million) belonging to the defunct Kenya Cricket Association.

By the time Ghai left the management of KCA, he was tired, bruised and disappointed and never recovered again from illness, including heart disease. His last shot in volleyball a few years ago didn’t yield much as very few people wanted to be associated with him.

But for us who knew him and keenly followed his rise, Ghai’s vision in sports marketing and promotion or even interaction with other people was always superlative, partly from his upbringing in Ruiru and later from his schooling at Highridge Primary School and Upper Hill Secondary School.

Ghai was an Indian by birth, but a Kikuyu, as he joked claiming his rural home was Ruiru and not anywhere else, least of all India.

He mingled freely with all at his residence, including some of us who chronicled the sporting disciplines he was involved in. He would insist on sharing food and drinks, especially his beloved Johnnie Walker.

Ghai’s parents lived in Ruiru before moving to Nairobi and Ghai, with a smattering of Kikuyu Language was not one to be intimidated nor shy away from a fight when offended.

After Kenya’s fairlytale match to the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals before bowing out against India in South Africa, there was a loud clamour for Kenya to be elevated from from second-tier Associate Member to a full Test member.

Kenya was considered the minnows with giant-killer instinct after beating all the Test-playing nations in friendlies.

But that big upset against former world champions West Indies in 1996 and humiliation of Sri Lanka in Nairobi that was testament that the wind of change was blowing towards East Africa.

Ghai had confided in me that had Kenya been elevated to Test Status, it would have meant an annual grant of about Sh1.7 billion annually from ICC to develop the game and mind-boggling money from television rights every time Test matches were played in Kenya.

The players too would become millionaires. Some who were playing part-time for various clubs abroad and drew salaries of up to Sh500,000 would get endorsements.

Their annually wage bill had at one time peaked to Sh44 million annually.

Ghai, through Mediaplus Sports, which held the commercial and marketing rights of the KCA, reaped big.

During the 1999 LG Four Nations Cricket Tournament at Gymkhana Club in Nairobi, Mediaplus negotiated TV rights for the seven-day tournament with Trans World International (TWI) for a cool US$3 million ( Sh225 million at the time).

He took home Sh75 million in commission. Captains of industry and businessmen in the Asian community took notice. The newest millionaire in town had arrived.

He earned revenue for branding inside the stadium which was estrimated at U$50,000 per product from major companies from Asia such as Hero Honda and Pepsi.

Ghai never attended business classes nor acquired university education. “Sharad was a genius and could see things the way no other Kenyan could see,” Mudibo, Ghai’s former personal secretary, said.

He did not get the millions from LG Cup by accident. His finest hour was in January 1997 when his company charged with selling tickets for a match between Kenya and Nigeria made a huge fortune.

In 1998, he formed Mediaplus Sport Sports and got Kenya Breweries to sign Sh150 million five-year sponsorship deal with Kenya Football Federation.