Glitz PERSONALITY
He’s been rich, broke, played basketball, and now runs a sportswear fashion brand, AFA Sports Apparel, among the global brands that will be outfitting a team at the Olympic Games in Japan this month. A former NBA agent, Ugo Udezue is telling the African story in a positive light through fashion and sports, writes
Vanessa Obioha
Of the two tall white buildings in the quiet street of Kafayat Abdulrazaq in Lekki, the AFA Sports Apparel building was more distinguished. Its iconic logo was emblazoned on it and if one looked closer, one would see the company’s name on one of the gate pillars.
Inside the white coloured building are a maze of offices and a showroom. The walls are also coloured white with some parts adorned with murals depicting the company’s vision and the slogan ‘This is Ours’. In one of the offices sat Ugo Udezue, a former National Basketball Association (NBA) agent and founder of the sportswear fashion line. Metaphorically, he is as tall as the building, towering at almost seven feet. Even though he hasn’t played basketball actively for a long while due to a knee injury, his physique is as intimidating as one who is constantly on the basketball court.
One does not need a soothsayer to discern that he is the pilot of AFA. His business-like demeanour signalled that: he answers questions straightforwardly without blinking, though his voice is deep and gentle. Occasionally, his lips break into a smile that eventually becomes a hearty laugh — a short bubbling sound — showing a playful and approachable side of him.
His office is also painted white. On its walls are paintings and a mood board where his ideas are articulated before translated into finished products. A cloth hanger stand displaying the latest collection of AFA sits idly on one side of the office.
If anyone had shown Udezue a picture of him today five years ago, he would probably laugh out loud, shrug them off as if they are on drugs. Why would he want to leave his dream job as a top NBA agent in America for an uncertain future in Nigeria? There was no plausible reason to take such a radical step. Alas! He did! And now, he campaigns to other Nigerians living abroad to make a similar move. In one of his Instagram posts early this year, he wrote about the big leap and encouraged others who are struggling to decide without buttering it.
“Even in despair, there are opportunities here. Good things don’t happen in times of prosperity, it is in despair. That’s when you make a change,” he said.Explaining his post further, he said, “Everything is not for everybody. Living in the U.S. creates some kind of comfort and stability in so many ways. But for me, I started the business very early. I’ve accomplished some of the goals I set. I’m also aware that the most important thing in life is the legacy you leave behind. It’s not about the money you make, or the people you meet, because all of that will pass.
“Legacy is more important to me. I have been in sports for most of my life. Once I saw this opportunity to make something different, it got me excited, and we wanted to build something special that would be around, that could feed families, create an entity that will be around years after we leave this earth. If you look at most major corporations in Nigeria today, after the people who found them are gone, the wealth and legacy dissipate, and their families have to start from scratch. Why don’t we have the Cadburys and Heinekens that outlive one generation? Most Nigerian businesses end in one generation.”
The zeal to make a legacy for himself made him shy away from his father’s production business. In fact, he admitted that he hates anything production because of the hassles his late father went through. Part of his ambition may also be attributed to his state of origin, Anambra. An indigene of Nnewi, he is proud of the enterprising nature of his people.
“It’s in my blood,” he said confidently.
Being a ‘returnee’, navigating the Nigerian landscape could be hectic, but not for Udezue, who was teachable and discarded the superiority mentality usually donned by most returnees.
“I could learn from my driver or my cleaner. So I learned quickly, I just watch, learn and adapt. That’s the key to my survival here. I don’t try to change the narrative. I don’t come here thinking like an American, you will fail. Once I get on that plane heading to Nigeria, I take off my American mindset and put on my Nigerian mindset,” he said, laughing heartily.
Udezue’s core objective when he returned was to start a basketball league in Nigeria. In a way, to build a basketball league that would rival the NBA. He started the African Basketball League with six teams in 2017 and rebranded it into the 10-team Continental Basketball League in six African countries. Through his efforts, the NBA Africa was born, and recently, he was appointed the chairman of the Anambra Basketball Association. A former basketball player, Udezue was part of the Nigerian junior national team in 1996. Of his siblings, he is the only one in the sports field.
“I come from a family where everyone is either a doctor or an engineer,” he said.
He got a scholarship to study in America and play basketball at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. There, he made a name for himself until a knee injury halted his advances. While the graduate of Communications is known for his contributions to basketball in Africa, he is becoming increasingly popular for his sportswear fashion line, AFA which stands for ‘Africa for Africa.’
AFA was born out of necessity to kit his basketball players. At first, he reached out to the popular sportswear brand Nike to produce kits that are suitable for Nigerians but was turned down. The rejection launched AFA. “At the beginning, it was just about creating something relevant,” he explained.
“We had no experience whatsoever in any kind of retail, inventory, warehouse. The only strengths we had were marketing and communication, so we have to learn very quickly. We didn’t know what would come out of it. We didn’t know the kind of investment to take. We just keep pushing day by day.”
Today, AFA is a leading sportswear brand in Nigeria. It joins other global brands that will outfit a team at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, later this month. It will be kitting Nigeria’s Women’s National Basketball Team, D’Tigress. It has collaborated with other basketball teams such as the Benin Basketball Federation and the Nigerian Volleyball team.
Looking back to almost four years ago when AFA Sports was birthed, Udezue clarified that the direction to make it a major fashion line evolved at some point.
“Our goal wasn’t just making money. It was to create a vehicle that was sustainable and could create jobs. Every time I travel, I see international brands like Nike and Coca Cola but you really don’t see any product that is from Africa. It evokes some kind of emotions in you when you see that. So our goal from day one was to create something beautiful and different. Something that can give hope to people that this can be done here too.”
An avid reader, Udezue armed himself with a lot of books before he kicked off his fashion business. He read several books on fashion retail and branding, including a book on the history of Nike, and carried out a feasibility study.
“The first place I went was the Palms Shopping Mall in Lekki, and I sat in front of the Nike store for two days, spending five hours a day. I watched what people were buying and not buying. I noticed a lot of people were going to the food courts more than the stores,” he explained.
He would later go to the Trade Fair International Market along the Lagos/Badagry expressway and visit the popular shoe market in Aba, Abia State, just to see how things are done organically. His next trip was to China, where he visited factories and shared his vision with the operators. Not until last year did he begin production in Nigeria.
Three months before the pandemic shut down the world, Udezue had the nagging thought to begin production in Nigeria. Again, he began studying the production process. He reached an agreement with his board members and kicked off production.
“Three months later, COVID hit. Nobody could import. We were the only people that could supply. That’s when the brand became popular. Everyone that was in sports was at home working out. If I didn’t do that, we would have gone under.”
He may not be an Elijah, but his prescient nature has helped him make the right decisions in business, and to an extent, nudged him back home. He revealed that the inspiration to create AFA — from the logo, the name to the direction — came to him in a dream.
“I didn’t see all these things because I was the smartest person or I foresaw COVID. Even the Olympics deal, I didn’t look for it. There is always something that connects everybody in this business. I would be absolutely foolish to think there’s no bigger play here.”
Beyond sports, AFA is a popular brand among entertainers. Unlike other brands that pay celebrities to market their products, Udezue found celebrities patronising AFA.
“They are just passionate about our story.”He is currently working on a new collection Afrileisure.
“We are trying to turn traditional African wear into athleisure—something you can just wear to a club, meeting or gym and still look comfortable. We use colours that are rich but minimalistic. We want to have our own concept of athleisure.”
The collection includes a kaftan-like athleisure outfit and funky, traditional caps.
Sometimes, it amazes Udezue how one gets to a certain age and discovers new talents. He’s been rich, broke, played basketball, and now runs a Pan-African fashion line. Yet, in all of these, he is modest, refusing to take the crown for all the hard work.
“I’m just the pilot. This vision has never been about Ugo Udezue. I see AFA in five years becoming a vehicle that tells a story through its products—telling the African story the right way—conveying messages of togetherness and that things can be done. We are not just married to one country in Africa. We want to tell our story in a very positive light, where every country in Africa wears AFA and lives are impacted. We want to make AFA a vehicle of African empowerment.”
