by Justin Lagat
Martin Keino giving out a certificate of participation to one of the athletes who attended the seminar, photo by Justin Lagat / Kenyan athlete
Justin Lagat sent this piece on 2 day entrepreneurship seminar, sponsored by Kipkeino Foundation.
This year would have marked the 18th time of another exciting edition the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon, but it could not happen due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
But, nevertheless, the Standard Chartered bank decided to come to the athletes on the ground to be with them at this time of the year.
Through the KipKeino Foundation and its CEO Martin Keino, athletes were invited for a two day seminar to teach them on how to become entrepreneurs during and after their running careers. The Athletics Kenya federation also used the opportunity to educate the athletes on the values of integrity and running clean.
The various business topics taught at the seminar included opportunity seeking, risk taking, commitment to work, goal setting, planning, persuasion and networking, self-confidence and efficiency and quality, among others.
The guest speakers during the last day of the event included General Jackson Tuwei, the Athletics Kenya president; Kipchoge Keino, the legend and the Standard Chartered Bank branch manager.
In his speech, Tuwei hoped that the athletes will be able to utilize the lessons from the SME support centre team to make their lives stable and better in their future.
“It would be good if we would have athletes taking up the challenge to educate themselves on matters to do with sports marketing and management so that we also have former athletes in the future being in positions that handle athletes in all levels; be it in the media, marketing or athletics managements,” said Tuwei.
Seizing a chance to take a picture with Athletics Kenya president, General Jackson Tuwei after the event, photo by Justin Lagat / Kenyan Athlete
Keino urged the athletes to emulate the Kenyan runners of the past who used to run clean for the glory of their nation.
At the end of the seminar, athletes received some food items to in order for them to be able to celebrate this festive end year season.
It has been a year with very little opportunities for athletes to earn a living and this was a great relief and a well-thought consideration from the Kipkeino Foundation.
