Tebogo's gold puts brands on notice for generation of African sprinters

Nearly a year ago, I started the #AfricaScores content series on LinkedIn to highlight the opportunities around Africa’s sports industry. My first post, as it happened, was a short text on the marketability of African sprinters after Letsile Tebogo became the first African on a podium at the 100m event at the World Championships.

Yesterday – Letsile Tebogo made history again as he became the first Olympic gold medalist for Botswana and the first African sprinter to bring home the coveted gold medal for this event.

Tebogo, a Nike sprinter, is also sponsored by Orange Botswana under a contract which will expire after the Olympics. The contract’s specifics are not known to the public, though he did receive a USD 11 000 check for his World Championships performance in Budapest last year.  Following his success, he also became a Tag Heuer brand ambassador, becoming the Swiss luxury brand’s only African ambassador in its current roster.

The future is bright for Tebogo, who just recently turned 21 and is often heralded for showing the potential of being Usain Bolt’s heir. Though Tebogo felt short in the 100m, one can expect to see him return to the Olympic stage in Los Angeles 2028.

Tebogo is not the only African sprinter the world needs to watch out for

The 200m was a great illustration of a trend in world athletics: Africans are no longer a threat just in the long-distance events. Half of the 200m final roster was African. Although Zimbabwe’s Makarawu and Charamba and Liberia’s Fahnbulleh finished 6^th, 8^th and 7^th respectively, their presence at the final puts the world (and brands) on notice about the potential of African sprinters:

This generation of sprinters is also incredibly young : All of them born after 2000 and will certainly return to world events which should give brands an incentive to back them. Fahnbulleh, has already secured sponsorship from Asics and garnered quite a lot of social media reactions for his Telfar kit.

What brands should consider when partnering with African athletes?

I’m the first one who will say “Africa is not a country” and correct any limited view on African markets and countries. Yet, on the global stage there is an incredible potential to leverage these talents’ popularity to connect not just with their home audience, but to audiences across Africa and its diaspora.

Success stories such as South Sudan and Nigeria’s basketball teams, Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga are celebrated as victories for Africa across the globe. These stories could empower brands to connect with this strategic albeit often overlooked audience.

It is something that Telfar, a New-York based apparel brand, understood perfectly: The brand, renowned for its monochrome shopping bags, is the official kit partner for Team Liberia and has launched a collection for the 2024 Olympics. The contract was already in place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but the Paris opening ceremony’s record viewership (up by 60% from the Tokyo Olympics in the U.S. market according to Nielsen) was a formidable publicity platform for the brand’s partnership with Liberia.

While it is too soon to measure the collection’s success, Telfar has provided us with a new blueprint on how to leverage a top-world sporting event to sell an authentic product for this specific audience. The buzz around the collection is reminiscent of Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup Nike kits which sold out within mere minutes of being released. Let’s see which brands follow suit for the next events at the global stage.

If you’re new here, welcome ! I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s read. You can expect #AfricaScores in your inbox every other Friday with a story at the intersection of sports and business in Africa. You can read more articles here.