KQ boss keen to chart fresh route in supporting Kenyan sports

Question: Earlier this year, you partnered with M-Sport Ford in the World Rally Championship and also supported the FIA Rally Star Programme for young drivers. What informed your entry into motorsport?

Answer: Kenya Airways has been linked with motorsport since the 1990s. In fact, we used to sponsor the Safari Rally in the 1990s. It had many entrants including Phineas Kimathi who is currently the president of Kenya Motor Sport Federation.

So we have a long history. In this particular instance, we had a discussion with M-Sport who were looking for a perfect partner to fly in their rally cars, their crew, and their staff.

This partnership is very beneficial. In fact, one of the things that happened, after the partnership is the camaraderie between the two teams, really because we are all about winning and performing better -- both M-Sport team and ourselves.

It was inspirational from both perspectives. When it comes to FIA rally star champions, this is very important for us, because we are all about developing talent.

Kenya Airways’ route network is very rich and our distance running athletes also travel a lot to global capitals.

Q: They competed recently in the London and Berlin Marathons. Isn’t there a way you can partner with these athletes, and other Kenyan sportspeople, to earn more visibility for the brand globally, like was the case with the Kenya Sevens team some years back?

A: Definitely, there’s an opportunity for us, because we are both iconic brands. We see these athletes as big brands for Kenya.

We can work together to promote, not just Kenya, but Africa. So we look for opportunities like these. I agree, working with the sevens team was very beneficial to us.

I am a rugby fan myself, and I watch sevens rugby quite a lot. I’d like to look at opportunities where we can start partnering with rugby generally, but with the sevens team in particular. But we first need to stabilise our business

Q: Would you consider special ticket rates and packages for selected elite athletes who bring glory to the nation, like Eliud Kipchoge and his peers?

We flew (tennis player) Angella (Okutoyi) from Wimbledon just to thank her for lifting the flag of Kenya high at the tournament.

Special rates are being done and they are going to be done and not just for athletes but for people specifically increasing the profile of Kenya as a country and the continent as well. We do that from time to time and we will continue to do so.

What deliberate efforts are you doing to build the KQ brand further as “The Pride of Africa”, not only in Kenya but on the continent as well, especially as you expand the code-share agreements?

You know we have a big ambition. First, is to make sure that we stabilise the business, and then in terms of long-term arrangement, we want to build a formidable pan-African airline group that will transcend the whole of this continent; that will connect cities, not just within Africa, but also from the continent to the rest of the world.

That is our ambition. We are very confident that we will be able to achieve this. Our journey has already begun, but we project our big turnaround will be in 2024 when we expect to start growing and being profitable.  

Then we will continue to build the brand, and work with specific personalities to raise our profile.

Q: There is the long-held perception that KQ is financially in the red and relies heavily on government bailouts. What plans are there to change the airline’s trajectory and improve its fortunes?

A: That’s a legitimate concern. People are proud of Kenya Airways and that’s why they want us to thrive. 

I want to hasten and add, Kenya Airways plays a bigger role than just providing profits for its shareholders. 

There is a bigger national, continental and international role that it plays in terms of connecting people, providing opportunities for people, foreign exchange, agricultural, tourism.

All these things are important for Kenya and they are important for Africa.

However, it’s true we need to be more efficient. We need to provide something for the shareholder, and we think we can be able to do that by 2024 for sure.

If you look at our results for 2020 compared to 2021, and even our half-year results for 2022 you can see a progressive improvement in terms of performance, and we believe that trajectory will continue rising.

In fact, in the next 12 months we have accelerated a programme of restructuring that will help to push our positive trend further.

Q: Growing up, we used to see Kenya Airways as a leading organisation in sports such as football and basketball particularly at the annual Kenya Communication Sports Organisation (Kecoso) Games, and even producing the country’s top sportspeople. But, lately, there has been little activity by your organisation in this space. What do you have in place regarding staff sports/welfare activities?

A: We’ve just started KQ Sports through a process we are calling “reignite” which is to encourage people to participate in sporting activity. We have a basketball team.

I think that’s where our sweet spot was. We are doing a lot of hiking to keep people fit.

We hope that, depending on what the coaches say, hopefully soon, we will be ready to participate competitively, particularly in basketball, because I think we are very strong.

We have tall people — you know there is a height requirement for you to be a pilot or work as a cabin crew. So, we have tall people who can play basketball.

The full interview ran on NTV last night