By Yomi Opakunle
Enigmatic Honourable Kunle Soname and his Remo Stars FC (a privately owned football club), most recently made history by winning the 2024/25 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) title.
Remo Stars by so doing, are the first club from Ogun State to win the prestigious league title since creation of the State and by so doing , lifting the erstwhile sleepy town of Ikenne from where reverred late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo , hailed from.
Like Awolowo, Remo Stars shot to global recognition from the greatest sport on earth – football .The euphoria of this victory has been deservedly very loud.
But beyond the victory, there are several lessons of visionary sure-footedness by Soname, worth scrutinizing and emulating, for replication nationwide.
“Little by little,” said a thoughtful lad. “Moment by moment, I shall improve…”
Frankly, the real deal are the success nuggets practically demonstrated by Soname, the proprietor in this ‘long’ journey to well-earned victory. Here we go….
■ Remo Stars did not suddenly or accidentally become NPFL Champions. The club was third about three seasons ago and were second , two seasons ago as well as being second last season! Lessons of painstaking hard work plus focus on the club’s vision as consciously envisioned by Soname.
■ Same Remo Stars, since establishment, had achieved promotion to the NPFL more than twice and relegated to the lower league twice, only to bounce back to the NPFL eventually. Lessons of never say die spirit, and eyes on the ball no matter how long. As they say, ‘never admit failure, until you’ve made your last attempt; but never your last attempt, until you’ve succeeded’.
■ Club started by hiring infrastructures at home in Ogun State, but now owns massive standard infrastructures in the state. Lessons of ‘from little seeds grow big oak trees and little beginnings should never be a barrier to great achievements.
■ It was one club at the outset but there are three clubs now: Remo Stars, Beyond Limits and Remo Stars Ladies. Lessons in incremental growth and prudent reinvestment strategy laced with focused patience.
■ ‘Unsung and unassuming’ with focussed hardworking chief coach in Daniel Ogunmodede who had been handling Remo Stars for some years now . He deservedly got the national recognition via appointment as one of the Assistant Coaches of the Super Eagles. Lessons of faith/belief of Hon. Soname in the talents/abilities/potentials of his coach, trusting that with time, it would lead to a glorious tomorrow. See what his unshaken faith in the talents of the young man has crystallized to…
■ Unshaken believe in the youth! Just check the average age of his players – he even has an Academy (Beyond Limits) that is doing well in the immediate lower Nigeria National League and deliberately structured serve as feeder team to Remo Stars . Talking about being intentional & deliberateness
■ Sustainability cum financial capability. Unlike many previous privately owned clubs which get financially challenged as time gets by, Proprietor who deliberately rather than luckily, owns Bet Naija, must have dedicated a reasonable percentage of ROI from Bet Naija/proceeds from some player transfers/other businesses (including a Portuguese 2nd division team ,CD Feirense, where he is the majority owner of) to the pursuit of his well thought-out sports business vision, not expecting immediate returns but assured of a certain successful tomorrow that has come to fore.Lessons: Financial intelligence plus continuous search for knowledge and self-development, with a team of workforce he invested in their development and gives opportunity to flourish.
■ Street Wise Soname.
Unknown to many, Soname is the son of the famous multimillionaire owner of Remo Carpet yore . Yes, he’s a scion of Chief Soname whom Ebenezer Obey sang about. But he discounted all that glamour, to become streetwise early in life and was even a two-time Executive Chairman of Ikosi-Isheri LCDA (very grassroots of public service governance), becoming a huge success. Believe me, he was even ready to integrate this his ‘now coming to fruition’ vision, into his home State vision to impact more people state-wide (provided a PPP model allowing the vision to blossom was agreeable to the government) back then.
He was even ready to accept the Vice Chairmanship of State owned Gateway FC back in time in 2011 to jumpstart the dream, but in the wisdom of the then Governor, there would be conflict of interest he noted and so didn’t approve. I know, because I was SA at the Ministry of Youth & Sports back then and was involved.
By then, the now blossoming Bet Naija hadn’t even come to the public scene for him but he continued with great determination and today, the rest is history. Lessons: Nigeria is full of God’s special blessings and once we continue to seek for His special grace and painstakingly remain focused, hardworking but patiently wait for His blessings, our dreams can come true.
Conclusively, this is an opportunity to celebrate Soname , President of Remo Stars Group, who is a whole lesson in successful ‘sportstrepreneurship’ for this hugely and fittingly deserved achievement, divinely thrust on him on his 59th birthday.
Once again,
Congratulations to Soname ( and his entire group) .
Opakunle, a veteran sports journalist, writes in from Ifako-Gbagada Lagos.
