Chief Ikenna Okafor’s foray into golf was fortuitous. The Keves Global Leasing Limited’s chief executive officer’s main love was tennis until COVID-19 hit the world and forced everybody to stay indoors.

But not given to the idle lifestyle, Okafor found a way to play tennis with his friends until somebody introduced him to golf. Before then, he saw golf as a sport for old and retired men, who engaged in the sport to while away time.

That attitude to the sport, which has now taken him to many countries across the world, was blown away when he took his first steps in to the game.

Narrating his sojourn into golf, which he has now become one of the major sponsors, the chairman of Rivers State Tennis Association said: “When COVID-19 happened in 2020 and everywhere was shut down, golf was one of the few sports that one could play.

“Then, I was bringing my friends to the tennis courts inside the Army Barracks to play with me. One of my friends told me to join him at the golf course, but I declined initially because I saw it as a sport for old men.

“When he insisted, I decided to give it a try. I went with him to the golf course and he went on playing for almost four-and a-half hours; when I checked my speedometer, I discovered that I had done over 70,000 steps, I was sweating and tired. It was then that I discovered that this game was not as simple as I thought.”

Okafor was so impressed by that experience that he decided to support the sport by organising a golf competition for his birthday. Christened the CIO Golf Classic, the event soon became a yearly tournament that brought both amateur and professional players from across Africa to vie for honours and the N20 million prize.

Since that initial step, the tournament has grown significantly with players from over 14 countries featuring in every edition. The prize money has also grown to N75 million or $50,000. And beginning from the next edition, it will rise to $70,000 (or N100 million) in November 2026.

But Okafor is not stopping there; he said that his long-term goal is to elevate the prize purse to $1 million within 10 years.

The idea, he said, is to build the CIO Classic into a tournament that the best African players and others from other continents keep in their diary.

“We want to grow the competition into a destination of choice for the best players. That is why we are part of the Safari Tour.

Apart from the prize money, Okafor said each additional player in the tournament gets about N200, 000 worth of entertainment, accommodation, feeding and sundry stuff, adding that the aim is to ensure that professional players earn money while amateurs enjoy the experience and have fun.

“Golf is one of the sports that you can start playing when you are out of the diapers till when you are even 100 years old.

“Your skill level takes you as far as you can go. If you are very strong, you hit well and maybe you score well; but if you are very old, you walk slowly, but still hit accurate shots.”

Apart from the health benefits in playing golf, Okafor emphasized that the sport has the potential to add to the country’s economy if well developed.

“Golf is an employer of labour, especially if you started playing early as a professional. A well-run golf course can also bring in a lot of money.

“Unlike other sports that you’re already talking about retirement between the ages of 35-40, you can carry on playing as long as you want with golf.

“The golf industry is amazing, but it is still underdeveloped in Nigeria. Nigerians are yet to know that you have to invest a lot of money to get the best out of golf and I am talking about the economic potentialities.

“If we develop good golf courses in every state in the country and across all zones, it will be amazing the volume of business and money that can be made.

“Imagine a golfer going out and winning $2 million, $3 million every year. What it does to the economy of the place that he is coming from is huge.

“Then think of the people who work in the golf course; the course workers, the maintenance people, the bar people, kitchen people. Some even have hotels. Many places in the world, hotels are located near a golf course.

“There is always a booming business environment everywhere a golf course is located.”

Okafor noted that golf can be expensive in terms of the equipment and gadgets, he added, however, that “the inherent economic benefits are bigger and we should follow the steps of countries like Kenya and South Africa, who have taken golf and tourism seriously.

“Within a good golf course, there would be other appurtenances where you can generate more income aside from what you get from the greens.

“One of the key business focus of US President, Donald Trump, is developing golf courses because as I said, good golf courses are self-sustaining.”

Apart from sports, Okafor is also committed to philanthropy, funding education, supporting widows and vulnerable communities, and practicing his Catholic faith actively. He was recently awarded the Papal Knighthood of Saint Sylvester in 2017 for his contributions.

Explaining his philanthropy, Okafor said: “My joy comes from giving and as a staunch Catholic, I believe if I have two caps, I should give one to another person since I can’t wear two caps at the same time.

“What is the essence of after living for 100 years, he leaves N500 million behind, which would become useless? Bearing that in mind, we try as much as possible to give especially to people in our host communities in Rivers State…we did so well at this level during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

He added: “Personally, I don’t want to be like Bill Gates, who after making so much money, he now set up a foundation to start giving out to the society. I believe as we make money, we should set aside as much as we can to give to the people who need it most.

“My cardinal principle is that whatever we have, we are only custodians and not the owners. I always pray to God to let me be a helping hand to somebody new every day.”

Apart from golf, Okafor plays active roles in five other sports, including tennis, football, swimming, table tennis and polo.

He said: “Our first love is tennis. From tennis, we moved to swimming. The only swimming competition held in Rivers State in the last eight, nine years was at my house. From swimming, we moved to table tennis.

“We have done secondary school table tennis competitions every year for the last seven years. Then we moved on to football. We sponsor the Rivers State amateur league.”