Our Olympic gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich would not lack
for advice on how to take his career forward or
spend his millions if he asked for it on our street.
Ideally Kiprotich
should be looking to do two things over the next five or so years, the most
productive years of his career. One, to maximize his earnings, preferably
through winning races but also through signing some lucrative endorsement
contracts. And secondly, investing the larger percentage of his earnings to tide him over a long
retirement seeing as he will retire in his thirties and judging by the advanced
age of his parents. Here is so me of the advice Kiprotich will best be advised
to steer wide off from the bad to the worst.
#7 Buy/build a big house
A house just adds to the expenses in your life, but we waive
these aside by consoling ourselves that we are escaping rent, when often times
the cost of maintaining your own house is more than the rent you were paying
previously. Sure Kiprotich’s earning power has just undergone a quantum leap, but
that does not mean his expenses should follow suit. At the height of his career
former boxing champion Mike Tyson bought himself a $30m (sh75b) house that was
far too big for a single black man. The palace cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars to maintain, several tens thousands more in taxes annually and more
thousands in manning. When his career took a nose dive the castle was auctioned
off to pay his debts incurred sustaining the mansion. The reality is that
assuming his career continues on its current trajectory Kiprotich will be lucky
to spend a four consecutive weeks at home in the next five years. A modest
three-bedroomed house should do the trick for now.
#6 Buy a farm
The investment process is about finding the best return for
your money with the least possible risk. His rural background will probably
seduce him to buy himself a farm stock it with cattle and grow maize, but if
the truth be told most farms are loss making, income sapping vanity projects
that say more about the owners ego than their financial benefits. Kiprotich can
well afford a few acres of land in his home area but let him be under no
illusions that he will see an adequate return in that enterprise while his
career is still on going. Let him see it for what it is a sentimental trophy to
assure the villagers that he has arrived.
#5 Invest with every Tom, Dick and Harry
You can rest assured Kiprotich has already got people of all
colours and shapes making a beaten path to his door with all manner of business
proposals. As far as I know Kiprotich is a runner and not an investor. He is
unlikely to match the well timed decision to overtake Kenyans Kirui Abel and
Wilson Kiprotich with only a few kilometers to the end of the Olympic marathon
a week ago if he turns to investing today. He will be best served by finding
himself an experienced manager who can take care of the business side of his
career while he does what he does best.
#4 Move to Kampala
There will be those whispering in his ear that he should
move to Kampala. The facilities are better, the housing is better, there is
more to do. These will be talking in their own selfinterest with Kiprotich in
Kampala they will have easy access to him, more specifically, easy access to
his millions. What has got Kiprotich to this point in his career is training in
the relative anonymity of the Kenyan rift valley and he should continue to do
so. Kampala has done nothing to advance his career and he owes it nothing.
#3 Buy car(s)
The boy can buy himself a car or two or even three straight
off the assembly line if he chose to. He can throw in a personalized number
plate, KIP RICH maybe, for good effect. To state the obvious his is the Olympic
champion and he does not need the latest model of Mercedes or BWM or ….
Whatever to validate him. He should habour no need to impress upon the public
who he is. He is a young man who if his career continues to rise will not be in
Uganda more than half the year, a sensible four wheel drive to navigate the
treacherous roads of his home district. The money he would have spent buying
more fancy cars can be deployed to make more money. More on that later.
#2 Retire
The man has won a Gold medal, hundreds of millions of
shillings are being thrown at him by a grateful nation, why should he continue
to suffer in training? Isn’t this – securing his and his family’s financial
future what it was all about? “I want to be a legend” he said before he flew
out to London. That is what sets Kiprotich apart from the rest of us mere
mortals, groveling in mediocrity. Going by Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Kiprotich is beyond hunkering after basic needs, personal security and need for
belonging at worst he is about building his self-esteem and at best self-actualizing h is full
potential as a human being. Olympic gold medalists are made of sterner stuff
than most Ugandans can even comprehend. Kiprotich is not about the money and he
should keep that way.
#1 Have a blast
When Ugandans get money they think of how they are going to
consume it first. The temptation to start when Bad Black left all will be
overwhelming for Olympic Gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich. And there are
hundreds even thousands of Ugandans who can help him spend his money. The
amount of money pledged and given to Kiprotich in the last seven days is more
money than many of us earn in a year leave alone in our careers, but he should
not be under the illusion that there is such a thing as money that cannot be
finished. Kiprotich is a runner the sooner he gets over this whole fanfare and
gets back to training the better for him, and us as a country.