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5 hours ago
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Sports
- Billionaire businessman shares unbridled passion for football
- Forecasts future of Remo Stars Football Club
- Relives armed robbery attack as a truck driver
- Gives counsels on making money and building wealth
Mr. Kunle Soname, the founder of Valuejet Airline and proud owner of Remo Stars Football Club (RSFC), has become a notable figure in Nigerian football and entrepreneurship. He shared insights into his journey, his fervent passion for football, and his candid approach to wealth generation in an exclusive interview with THE NATION. He spoke to News Editor, BUNMI OGUNMODEDE and Sports Editor, MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN
For Kunle Soname, passion for football transcends mere enjoyment; it is an integral part of his life. According to him, his involvement in football is not just as an owner but as a hands-on participant.
“Next to my family, football is my passion,” Soname, the erstwhile Executive Chairman of Ikosi-isheri Local Council Development Area (LCDA), told The Nation, emphasizing that managing Remo Stars Football Club (RSFC), feels more like leisure than a job. His engagement includes attending training sessions and watching games, making him a constant presence at the club.
“Running Remo Stars is like a leisure for me, I don’t consider it like a job,” he noted.“ On a typical day, I watch football three times. I watch trainings in the mornings as well as the evening trainings and when I get home again, there would always be football on TV and I watch again.”
Wondering how he cultivated such an unbridled passion for the beautiful game, Soname, the first Nigerian to acquire a European club (C.D. Feirense in Portugal) which he bought a decade ago, quipped:“Yes, I was once a footballer. Though I didn’t play to professional level, I played football up to state level with the academicals.
“ I equally played for the NYSC Team as a Corp member with Plateau State. I played for my hall of residence during my days at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife. I was a decent footballer.”
This year, precisely on April 27th, Soname’s long-running investment in football which also include Remo Stars Ladies (a team in the Nigeria Women Football League) and Beyond Limits Football Club (a team in the second-tier Nigeria National League), consummated as his Ikenne-based flagship side, Remo Stars Football Club, won their Holy Grail of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) title and became the first club from the South-West geo-political zone of the country to win the title since Julius Berger in 2000.
Sky Blue Stars rule NPFL
Reflecting on RSFC’s historic achievement of winning the NPFL title, Soname expressed immense pride. “Winning the 2025 NPFL title for the very first time in our history is very heart-warming,” he shared.
This milestone comes after years of dedication, including a rebranding from FC Dender to RSFC and multiple promotions and relegations.
To say that the Sky Blue Stars(as Remo Stars are so nicknamed) first gained promotion to the NPFL in 2016 but soon suffer relegation in 2018. The Sky Blue Stars spent some three seasons in the lower rank before securing another promotion to the NPFL in September 2021 after finishing second in the NNL playoff Group A. Their campaign in the NPFL since then have not been without peculiar challenges accustomed to finding the way through the maze to the top.
He offered: “ So, after 15 years, it has culminated into this celebration and like you rightly said, this title celebration also coincided with the anniversary of my 59th birthday which is quite significant because it also happened within the timeframe we have given ourselves. So I thank God for that.
“If you think you’re doing the right thing, and you have the staying power, it’s only a matter of time for success to come.
“Like you rightly said, four years ago we came third; three years ago we came second and last year, we came second. So , it’s only normal that we should come first.
“Of course, winning the NPFL title is looking like a routine because we’ve achieved it.”
Projections for Remo Stars FC
Now, with a solid foundation and unwavering commitment, Soname sees a bright future for the club, aiming to compete at continental levels in the next five years.
“Every year, we’ve always given ourselves a target at the beginning of the season and it had always been just to maintain our status in the NPFL,” he continued his amazing romance with Remo Stars. “But this last season (2024-2025), our target was to win the title.
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“ We said the same thing last year as well but we only came second. Even if we didn’t win the NPFL title this year, we would not have killed ourselves.”
One good thing going for Remo Stars according to Soname is that it is privately owned:
“ We are not a government club, so nobody gonna sack us. If we’re not winning it, nobody gonna change the management .
“We are a privately-owned club which has been a huge factor in our growth because nothing will dramatically change because we’d missed winning the title. Investment in football is a marathon not a sprint race.
“Take for instance, coach Daniel Ogunmodede has been with us for almost 10 years and did not win anything major until this year but we still kept faith with him.
“I knew we were on the right track and it’s normal that we keep striving; we’ve achieved that now.”
For those who have paying more than usual attention to the rise and rise of Soname, they said his staying power was his uncommon perseverance even in the face of daunting challenges .
Such pragmatism, he admitted , had been the bedrock in building Remo Stars Football club to the present state, adding he already has in place some projections for the club both in short and long terms.
“In the next five years, we hope we (Remo Stars) will be challenging (for hours) very well on the continent and we think we have a clear pathway to that as well, which is incremental,” explained the billionaire football investor. “ Ours is like raising a baby and we go from one step to the other
“ I think that in the next five years, we should be at the stage whereby we would be able to compete at the top level of the continent for the Champions League for instance.”
Unlike many ‘money-miss-road’ and nouveau riche Nigerians, Mr. Money as Soname was tagged by national tabloid, is humble to a fault. Indeed for the uninitiated, it would be difficult to even pick him out in a crowded place due to his down-to-earth lifestyle.
Yet a smiling Soname dismissed with a wave of the hand when pressed why he’s not flamboyant in his outlook with Remo Stars like the first generation of Nigerian club owners like late Chief M.K.O Abiola(Abiola Babes) and late Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu (Iwuanyanwu Nationale) for instance.
He said as far as Remo Stars Football Club was concerned , he is ‘a man for all seasons’ as the club’s President.
“Well, I don’t know if what you said is correct,” he explained.“ I mean, there’s hardly a home game of this team that you don’t find me here.
“ I’m always here (Remo Stars Stadium) watching them. I watch their trainings. I watch the matches. Maybe because I don’t grab the front pages in the newspapers but I’m very much involved with the club because my love for football is skin deep.”
Building Wealth the Right Way
Soname’s entrepreneurial journey is equally compelling. He described his early days, emphasizing hard work and perseverance over quick wealth schemes.
“There is no magic about getting rich quick. Making money is by compounding,” he asserted.
His experiences, starting with transporting goods in a truck and later venturing into various businesses, highlight his belief in diligence and patience. He critiqued the allure of Ponzi schemes and illegal activities, advocating for sustainable business practices.
“Many people don’t even know what we have done to be where we are today,” he volunteered. “Let me give you some insights (about getting rich).
“ After I finished my NYSC service scheme in 1989,my friend and I put money together and bought a truck; a six-wheeler truck and I was trading I was taking tomatoes from Jos to Ikom and Calabar in Cross River State and on my way back, I would take bananas or plantain back from Ogoja back to Jos and I did that for about 18 months and I didn’t even have a driver .
“i was driving the truck myself and I was doing this trip almost twice every week. I had no other choice and I would leave Jos in the evening and by early morning, I’m in Ikom. The only time I’ve ever been robbed in my life was on that road. “
Soname’s experiences exemplify that building wealth requires time, effort, and integrity.
“You just need to go and do the work,” he advised, underscoring that every success story involves struggles and a commitment to ethical practices. “At some point, I was also going to the Republic of Benin with this same friend of mine to buy cars and bring it through the Seme Border and we pay our Custom duties and we brought them and would sell to his daddy’s friends.
“There was a time I was also selling building materials and I did that for close to 10 years. That time, I was managing my mum’s sawmill and I was supplying woods and planks and I can tell you that i supplied about 60 percent of all the wood and planks used during the construction of the Marwa Gardens in Ikeja, Lagos.
“All the woods and planks used at the Marwa Gardens for lintel, roofing, suspended floor slabs because I was one of the biggest suppliers of planks to HFP Engineering (Building and Civil Engineering Company) and DTV Construction Ltd. This Osborne Foreshore Estate in Ikoyi , we started it, supplying wood there.
“So we’ve done too many things. But if you don’t go through that, you’re never going to know how to make money. Well, maybe that’s not correct because some people just stumble on opportunities and that (money) happens to them.
“ But in a normal trajectory, that’s the way to go because there’s no free money anywhere. “
Now on the eve of his Golden Jubilee, Soname’s trajectory in all spheres of life should serve as a guide and counselling to younger folks as he has ounce of wisdom for youths neck deep in get-rich-quick syndrome: “ Strangely, I heard that some people said that ‘you can cut somebody’s head , pound it and it turns to money’? I don’t know how Somebody’s head can turn to money .
“ What I know is that they print money with machine but if you think you are going to remove somebody’s tummy and the thing will turn to money, I don’t know how you are going to do that one.
“ Today, we here all sorts of things from these kids about making money which is quite unfortunate.”
Soname’s management style reflects his belief in empowerment and trust. He maintains an open-door policy, allowing employees the freedom to perform their roles without micromanagement.
“If you’ve employed someone, let them do their job,” he explained.
This leadership approach fosters accountability and encourages a culture of trust within his enterprises, whether in aviation or football.
“There is nothing much about my management style, I run an open door policy,” Soname said matter-of-factly.“ Strictly, an open door policy and when you hire and pay people do a job or a task, you leave them to do it.”
He continued : “ If you know you can do it, you don’t need to employ them in the first instance and that is the most important thing for me.
“ For instance, if I employ a coach, I’m not going to tell the coach to take this or that player. If you have a bank managing director, can you be telling him what he has to do?
“You must trust people to do the job. Of course, our people are funny as well they’ll try to but no matter how funny they are they first , second or third time , you will still catch them and you fire them. “ So my management style is that simple: open door policy and trust people and this has helped me a great deal,” Soname added.
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