Nigeria can earn $100 million per year through motor sport – Ribi Adeshokan

By Ebele Orakpo
Nigeria: Good People, Great Nation’ was a slogan coined by the Federal Ministry of Information in its bid to positively project Nigeria’s image to the world and attract foreign direct investments in the process. But the Nigerian situation needed more than mere rhetoric and one man chose to take the proverbial bull by the horn by bringing in a sport hitherto the exclusive preserve of Europeans, Americans and Asians.

Not only will the sport entertain people, it will also boost the nation’s economy by bringing in tourists and prospective foreign investors, foreign exchange as well as creating jobs. This will yield better results than the practice of government officials spending the nation’s scarce resources to junket the globe in search of elusive foreign investors.

In this chat with Mr. Ribi Adeshokan, the Chief Executive Officer of GRC Motorsport, a UK-based motor racing team, he said Nigeria stands to earn about 100 million USD per year through motor sport. Excerpts:

A graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the London South Bank University in the UK, Mr. Ribi Adeshokan worked for a number of years before veering into the business of motor racing.

On how it all started, he said: “I got into motor racing years ago. It started as a hobby with a group of friends who love motor sports. We came together and began to race ourselves. After a while, I said to myself: ‘Why do this as a hobby, why don’t you make it a business?’

So in 2007, GRC Motorsport was born and it became a motor sport company. It is registered in the UK as well as in Nigeria. Right now, we are putting together a racing team to fly the Nigerian flag and promote Nigeria’s image at the international motor sport arena. It’s called Team Nigeria or Nigeria Racing Eagle.”

Speaking on the vision of the company, Mr. Ribi Adeshokan said: “The core vision of GRC Motorsport is to introduce and develop motor sporting in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Yes, we have in South Africa, Morocco and here and there, but right now, there is no international motor racing event in Africa so from the business angle, it makes a lot of business sense to us and that is one of our strong points in talking to Motorsport partners about the potentials in Africa.

Africa being the next emerging continent after Asia, and with a population of over a billion people, we are able to show them the huge business opportunity that is available and that is yet to be tapped. So, although it is a sport, at the same time, it is serious business.

Part of what we are working on is to have a race team that will be competing across the globe – UK, USA, China, Dubai, Macau, Malaysia, Australia, Germany, Brazil etc. and part of our negotiation is to have the race hosted in Lagos, Nigeria and Motor sport’s world body, Franc
e-based Federation of International Automobile, FIA, has given its approval for us to organise the FIA GT World Series in Nigeria.”

He further said that Team Nigeria will not just be representing Nigeria alone but the entire Black race – Africans, African-Americans, Caribbeans, Brazilians etc., “which makes us very unique because we will go down in history as the first team to represent Africa in motor sport at the international arena.”

On the planned hosting of the race in Lagos, Adeshokan said: “We have been talking to the Lagos State Government and we have done some feasibility study. We brought some of the best circuit designers to Lagos who sacrificed just to have everything in place to hold a world-class event.

So, hopefully, with the support of the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government, very soon, we will have an international event in Lagos and it is going to be a street circuit to showcase the commercial might of Lagos and Nigeria. Motor sport, in a way, is the richest sport in the world, richer than football.

Football has more followers whereas motor sport works more with corporate organisations, car manufacturers and telecommunications industry. It’s not about sports alone; it’s about development of automobiles as well.

For instance, the Audi R8 LMS is a limited edition car, maybe it’s only about 10 produced in a year and part of what we’ve been doing is assisting them to develop the cars because all the feedback they get from the field, they use for car development so it’s not just racing as a sport, it’s technology advancement as well.

That’s one of the things we will be exposing Nigerians to, so, it’s an opportunity for our youths to have career in mechanical engineering, technology, communications etc. because there are lots of things to be done. We are having Nigerian drivers and technicians although we are bringing in expatriates at the initial stage but we will start training Nigerians so it’s an opportunity for Nigerians to be trained.”

On what Nigeria stands to gain: “In terms of how much it can contribute to the Nigerian economy, from our analysis, it’s going to be a two-day event in Lagos but it will take like two weeks activation as people have to come in, we have to bring in the cars, the engineers, etc., and we have to build the tracks which will take 20 weeks. That will be built somewhere outside the arena so we are looking at about 100 million US dollars per year.

Our target is to attract 10,000 foreign visitors to Lagos so we have to market the event internationally. We looked at where the demography will like to come to Nigeria. Apart from the sport, we are putting together a series of business/investment fora so we will be talking to different potential investors.

It is, therefore, a platform for business-to-business networking, a platform for corporate organisations to benefit from brand positioning, exposure and unique selling points (USPs) that come with associating with Nigeria and international motor sport,” the GRC Motorsport boss said.

Continuing, Adeshokan said: “Again, we will be doing a reality show in Nigeria, like the Next Top Driver which will be open to anybody who believes he/she can drive.

We will then select the first three drivers and send them for training. Secondly, we will be going to the universities to pick up first class students of mechanical engineering and telecoms to come on board. We will pick up the best of the best in Nigeria because it is not about the training only, it’s about promoting Nigeria.

Again, if you look at it, the car is green-white-green. Like what we are proposing to Cross River State Government. As a tourist destination in Nigeria, we are proposing to have our headquarters there and at the same time, build a permanent circuit and academy there which means we will be having our training and testing there.

Then we will be having what we call corporate driving where we let ordinary people come and have the experience of motor sport driving and that will attract more people to Cross River State.”

He said the FIA GT World Series reaches about 500 million homes across the globe and that is a great opportunity for anyone that wants to promote their business, service or brand. “Association with Motorsport will go a long way in terms of business to business opportunity it offers, the positive PR images so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

According to Adeshokan,Team Nigeria will be competing in FIA GT3 series, a grand touring series having super sport car manufacturers like Audi, McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin, Maserati , Porsche and BMW competing with their most prestigious and iconic models. “These are specially made cars, they are not just road cars,” he stated.