Amobi Okugo

It's always great when we get to talk to people who have a unique perspective on things. Black excellence and all of our respective journeys come in many different forms. When we realized we had an opportunity to speak to Amobi Okugo, we understood that his career and the lens that he saw the world would be something that would make for an interesting conversation.

Amobi is a professional soccer player who currently plays for the Austin Bold FC. Although being a soccer player is his day-to-day career, our conversation revolved around so much more. His brand is built around being a frugal athlete.

We've all seen the headlines. For our whole lives, we've heard about athletes earning loads of money then at some point after their careers are over, they don't have anything left. As people who aren't in that position, we wonder how and may even fall into the trap of judging them, as if we can't also be susceptible to the same things that can drive someone in that position to run out of money.

Amobi during our conversation spoke about how it's easy for athletes or anyone for that matter to go broke. Anyone can make a bad investment, anyone can find themselves spending money based on speculative income, and anyone can be trapped into thinking the money can always be there. Amobi had these thoughts at the beginning of his career. As a player who was drafted out of college, he strayed away from buying the flashiest car or making purchases to follow the trends of everyone around him. Amobi understood that his career wouldn't last forever and his moves during his career would impact life after soccer.

As the son of immigrants, money was something that he knew could come and go. Because of some of those values, even convincing his parents that he'd leave college to go professional wasn't an easy conversation. The compromise was that he would commit to finishing school and getting his degree while he played. Although balancing the time between training, traveling, and games wasn't easy, Amobi got it done. He was able to earn a Bachelor's degree in Organizational Leadership and Development with a minor in Business Administration. He also received a Master's degree in Sports Law.

Amobi created A Frugal Athlete to guide athletes with what to do with their finances. Managing and investing is rocket science to people who have never been sat down and instructed on what to do. During our conversation Amobi highlighted that some of this isn't something unique to athletes, anyone can have a hard time managing finances. As an athlete though, that's the demographic he's with on a regular so building a brand around that made the most sense.

Along with putting his energy into ensuring that athletes are good with their finances, Amobi also started a charitable organization called OK U GO Foundation. This is a foundation dedicated to providing resources to children from low-income backgrounds so they can chase their passions. Amobi remembers when his parents would drive him to games or tournaments that were far, or when they'd buy him cleats and gear. These are things he understands that not every child has access too and he wants to use his foundation to break down the barriers for entry into the sport and into other aspects of life for children.

Amobi's advice for anyone who has big dreams is to not wait. "Fail Forward and figure out ways you can be a value add. When you contribute to the space that you are pursuing you will receive more in return. Give before you extract. Find ways to make an impact because the income will come as a result. No one has it all figured out but if you wait until you do, you will be left on the sidelines."

Check out Amobi’s website “A Frugal Athlete” here!