Where medals can be won and money made

Kenya's Hometown of champions beckons as a destination for Chinese investors

When you cross from Uasin Gishu county to Elgeyo Marakwet county in western Kenya, a big road sign says that you are entering the home of champions. This is where athletes such as the former marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang and the current holder Dennis Kipruto Kimetto come from. The current 800m record and Olympic champion David Rudisha hails from here, too, as do other top athletes.

For many years the town of Iten in Elgeyo Marakwet has produced top world athletes in middle- and long-distance running. Most, such as Kimetto, discover their talent only later in life, but others get their start in athletics in schools, where local coaches mentor them. One only need attend annual school competitions to realize how many more champions are emerging.

However, despite how prolific Iten is in producing top runners, it is unassuming. Athletes who have trod its grounds have received many more accolades than the town, which has little to show in terms of facilities needed to hone runners' skills.

Private facilities are few. One is a high-altitude training center that Lorna Kiplagat, a long-distance runner who is now a Dutch citizen, set up. She was also responsible for a Tartan track being laid down at a cost of $11 million.

The surface of the track in the only existing public stadium is dirt, meaning it cannot be used during wet seasons. However, in dry periods it gets heavy use from enthusiastic athletes who draw on the coaching of marathon veterans as pacesetters.

Thirty-five kilometers away in Eldoret, in Uasin Gishu county, is Kipchoge Keino Stadium, named after the two-time Olympic gold medalist Hezekiah Kipchoge Keino, Kenya's first middle-distance champion. In 2003 the national government set aside $2.2 million to revamp the run-down 10,000-seat stadium, but the work stalled for lack of funds, and last year the Ministry of Sports announced the allocation of an additional $245,000 toward completing the project.

Jackson Mandago, the governor of Uasin Gishu, has said a Chinese investor plans to renovate the stadium and 64 others at a cost of $22 million. Mandago says the renovations would make the county only the second in Kenya with such modern sports facilities, the others being Safaricom Stadium Kasarani in Nairobi, which China financed and built, and which opened in 1987. The complex hosts national competitions from which athletes who represent the country in world championships are selected.

The lack of proper facilities in Iten and nearby areas epitomizes the shortcomings in the country's sports industry, which leave it short of revenue and opportunities for youth, who account for 70 percent of the total population.

Plunkett Research Ltd of the United States has estimated that the global sports industry has a net worth of $1.5 trillion, and a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers foresees a growing sports market.

"Drivers include a rebound in TV advertising, the ongoing migration of sports to pay TV and the return of financial services and automotive companies to sponsorship, plus a number of major sports events," the report says.

In Kenya, visits by foreigners, for tourism and for business purposes, continue to be among the most important sources of foreign earnings. Tourism contributed 11 percent to the country's GDP and was allocated $78 million in the 2015-16 financial year budget. Sports was allocated $66 million, $20 million of that for construction of stadiums in Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret.

In the allocation of funds to counties, Elgeyo Marakwet received $33 million. This does not cover its recurring expenses and development programs.; the only action the county has taken relating to athletes is slightly upgrading roads they use in training.

As for Iten, it continues to attract runners both local and foreign. The Chinese women's national team set up camp there for a time during this summer, and it is expected that after the IAAF World Championships in Beijing this month, the team will return to prepare for the Olympics in Brazil next year.

Despite the paucity of facilities, athletes from around the world continue to flock to the area, where they find good food, good terrain and good weather, as well as many athletes, novices and veterans alike.

So Athletics Kenya, the governing sports agency, in collaboration with the counties in the area, needs to develop strategies to bring in foreign investors who will transform the area into a top sporting destination.

Under public-private partnership initiatives the counties can initiate projects that will encourage foreign investors to develop world-class facilities suitable for intensive sports training.

Constitutionally, counties are now allowed to independently design and market projects that will contribute to the development of the area. This has been seen as a sure way of speeding up growth in rural areas that have been considered felt marginalized.

One key issue for investors is the availability of land, which is not only difficult to secure but expensive. A public-private partnership approach would ease investors' efforts as the local governments take on the task of securing land on behalf of interested investors.

The investment environment in Kenya is very healthy, the Economist Intelligence Unit having recently listed the country as the seventh-highest investment destination globally among emerging markets.

Elgeyo Marakwet county and its neighbors such as Uasin Gishu and Nandi are well placed to bring in more revenue. The area is attractive as a sports destination both for investors who would like to develop facilities and those who want to open sports apparel and equipment outlets.

China proved itself a friend in building the Safaricom complex 28 years ago, and many more opportunities await Chinese private investors in the Rift Valley.

The author is a freelance sports journalist in Kenya. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/21/2015 page12)