By Chigozie Chukwuleta
Recently, the Nigeria National League signed a five-year deal with a Sportswear manufacturing company, ProStar Sports. A deal that has put the second tier league afresh on the front burner positively with its attending benefits. In this interview with Newspathfinder, the man behind the masquerade, CEO ProStar Sports International, Mr Paul Maduako gave insight into his new found love in Nigeria football.
Excerpts……
Q. I discovered that prostar found love in sports development and promotion in Nigeria, what is the motivation?
A. The motivation is that I have been in the sports industry for the past 35 years. I started Zenith Sports conglomerate then when I had the interest of developing sports brands we established Hagai sports and that has been in the sports space for the last 10 years, now. We want to step up our game we want to compete at the international level we want to rebrand that is what brought about ProStar. Prostar as you can see is just like a few months old. The first affinity that we are creating along sports stakeholders is NNL and they have given us a wonderful platform that we really appreciate.
Q. What was the reason for the NNL choice?
A. Under Hagai, we have a very good relationship with NNL so when we were rebranding they also gave us the opportunity based on the years of the relationship going well with us and again we will not forget that they are the most important league in Nigeria so it’s deliberate.
Q. Why do you think they are the most important league?
A. Yeah they are, they are the most important league in Nigeria because they are doing it professionally, differently intentionally. I must tell you that the season that just ended there were a lot of praises for NNL because in the entire sporting space in Nigeria they have recorded more wins away from home. That is a very big credibility that will actually help to develop the sports and the league and football in Nigeria. They won the President Cup, which is a testament of the quality of the league.
Q. Being motivated is one thing and getting equal happiness is a different thing. Within the period of this marriage, can you say you are happy taking the decision?
A. I must tell you that we are really very happy with the partnership we have with NNL. The sports reporters are saying that the NNL is the most important league and I think they have proven it in the course of being able to deliver more away wins and I think with that result the league will continue to improve. Again, we look at the quality of display in the concluded super 8. You can see it’s not goal galore, everyone plays a part and the technicality and quality of display of the players and the management and teams show that Nigeria is developing from one state to another. I will be expecting more of us in NNL because you learn from experience you learn from your losses and successes. I must assure that we are deliberate with our partnership with NNL because the present board is dishing it out the way it should be and that has restored the confidence that was lost over the years. I must also appreciate and commend the team that qualified for NPFL because they will be selling the same story going forward. If you look at the confederations Cup you’ll see that NNL took the top positions there. Majority of the teams that qualified for the quarter finals are NNL teams and in the semifinals you have two NNL and two NPFL. In the finals it was one NNL, one NPFL and NNL won. So they have actually set the ball rolling that is why we are deliberate about our partnership together. We are leaving no stone unturned to create value which have been a vacuum in sports administration. And with the platform we are not only coming to just partner we are coming to add value to the course of the game, we need to celebrate the players expose them the more, give them media hype so that as good as they are the world will get to know them better.
Q. Away from your marriage with NNL, where do you see grassroot football development, in Nigeria in the next three years?
A. Like I said earlier, NNL has set a very high standard and that will help to develop the league from grassroot. People will emulate what they have done. That it’s not a must win for every home team, you need to get prepared going into every match. So once that happens the league or the grassroots will start developing. We are also deliberate about what we are doing coming into sports partnerships, we want to give the grassroots clubs the opportunity for them to start making money to finance the club. You won’t need to go and beg for money to finance your club because we are giving clubs franchise to own the brand. We support them in marketing and they will rake in every day sales that will help them to support financing for the club. So with that they won’t be struggling to exist.
Q. Is this Prostar love only for football?
A. Prostar is actually a sportswear, lifestyle and casual brand so we are not limited to any sports in fact we are here for every sport. Like you can see around, we have football series, volleyball series, basketball series we are also not stopping at these sports. We are already developing beach Soccer ball, handball, rugby ball and all kinds of sportswear that are needed for combat sports like karate, judo, taekwondo all forms of martial arts even tennis as well. We are not limited to any sports because we want to do it differently and we want to compete with the likes of international brands.
Q. You are in Nigeria and there are so many clubs NNL and NPFL alike. Which club do you support as a person?
A. With the nature of my business we are supporting all clubs because we want all clubs to wear our brand so we are very deliberate about it. We support you once you are partnering with us, we come as a form of motivation, we bring all our social media presence and reach to promote your club once you are on board the prostar family.
Q. Nigeria is struggling in the world Cup qualifiers, what do you think?
A. I think it’s not over until it is over, if Nigeria can win their remaining matches and some of those other countries start losing matches we will still qualify. It is a very difficult position quite alright but the truth is all hope is not yet lost.
Q. What is your word to struggling clubs especially those in NLO, the amateur sides financially going forward?
A. Our coming into the sports marketplace, our rebranding from Hagai to Prostar, that is one of the things we had in mind. We want to create an avenue of enterprise where these clubs will make money because the bane of the these clubs is actually finance so when they have financing they will start having funds to be able to make their clubs professional clubs. I am calling on them to come on board Prostar family and the story will be a good one for them going forward.
Q. What other other ingredients are you adding to this your sauce with NNL?
A. We sponsored the man of the match award and the individual awards as well during the Super Eight but we are going to do more during the course of the league. We are going to player of the month award, once you win player of the month award you become a Prostar ambassador. We are going to kit you, give you everything you need to do better. We are going to identify with the goalkeepers give them everything they need, the best kind of gloves professionally to keep the course of their game on top. We are also going to create enterprise market for all the clubs, they won’t have to go back to their chairman or owners to start begging for money. It’s a deliberate act which will help create a synergy with the club and their community and the market is here and there will be daily income. We are doing all these things because we have come a long way as sports industrialist, sports merchants and brand merchants. we have studied the international brands so whatever we are doing today and the success stories we are recording in NNL today is what we are going to sell outside Nigeria, because our target is not just Nigeria, it is only our starting point. We are going to use everything we have gained here to sell our product abroad and earn money to support the naira.
