It is a motto, inspired by her father, that Wanjiru Mbugua-Karani has honoured her entire life. Once one of Africa’s top juniors, she has served tennis in Kenya as a coach, junior tennis co-ordinator, Fed Cup player and captain. Today, as Secretary General of Tennis Kenya, the 46-year-old is establishing herself as a force for change beyond her nation’s borders.

Last year Mbugua-Karani was invited to join the ITF’s Gender Equality Committee, and in January she was appointed to the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) Women in Sports Commission, overseeing the development of women and girls’ participation at all levels of the game in Africa – some journey for a career that began with a university project and a demand for action.

“I studied communications at university and got my ITF coaching certification while I was there,” she said. “As part of my studies I did a research course and opted to do my research paper on tennis. After interviewing coaches and players, I realised that one of the issues was that Tennis Kenya did not have an administration office, so I marched into the President’s office and said I would like to volunteer. And there I started my journey as an administrator!

“I volunteered three times a week, hoping to keep the office open so people could come and get information. From there, I got the job as JTI co-ordinator for a couple of years. I did coaching, I did officiating, I did tournament events, I did minutes for the meetings…”

Everything can be done.

'Whatever it is, whatever it takes, I can do it – it can be done! Everything that I do, I do it to the very best of my ability'

In the ITF's 2019 Global Tennis Report, Kenya ranks fourth among African nations for its number of tennis clubs, with 30 registered clubs housing 110 courts. Work on a new National Training Centre at the Kasarani Sports Complex in Nairobi began in 2018, a project intended to kickstart moves to make tennis a sport open to all by providing more public facilities.

Internationally, Kenya plays an increasingly integral role in African tennis. It is home to the ITF East Africa Regional Training Centre, a training hub for some of Africa’s most talented junior players that offers personalised programmes in schooling, competition and athletic development. It is also establishing itself as a tournament hub in the region. In 2019 it hosted two ITF World Tennis Tour Women’s tournaments – the first ITF tournaments for women in the nation’s history – alongside eight ITF World Tennis Tour Junior events and an ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour tournament in recent years, as well as CAT/ITF Development events at Under-12 and Under-14 level. Both the training centre and tournament programme will benefit from the new NTC.

As Secretary-General, Mbugua-Karani is at the heart of what she calls a visionary and passionate leadership team at Tennis Kenya. It has garnered strong relations with both the Kenyan government and the ITF, and credits its recent successes in part to the gender balance of its board – a value they are also looking to establish on court, where females account for 37% of Kenya’s registered players.

As well as access to facilities, Kenya needs more coaches, and the national association has formed a coach’s commission and a mandate for coaching courses to boost numbers. Engagement of female coaches has been a deliberate objective, designed to improve female player participation in line with research that suggests women and girls respond better when working with women. As of 2019, 40% of Kenya’s registered coaches are women, while Rosemary Owino, the nation’s technical director since 2015, serves as captain of both the Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams.

'There were not many girls on the circuit, so I had play and train with the boys, but I never felt out of place. I felt I belonged; I was different, but I belonged anyway'

Mbugua-Karani knows first-hand the influence a female coach can have on a player, thanks to her father and that family motto.

“My dad has been a big influence in my life. His name is Bedan Mbugua, and he was a journalist. The mantra plays on his name – ‘Everything, Wanjii, everything can Bedan!’ That’s how we grew up. I have the same philosophy: whatever it is, whatever it takes, I can do it – it can be done! I make sure that everything that I am given, everything that I do, I do it to the very best of my ability.

“When I was 12, he had just learned this new game of tennis, and when he took a break I would take the racket with my brothers and sisters and we would hit around. That’s when the tennis bug caught.

“My first coach wasn’t a coach – she was the top player in Kenya at that time, Jane Ndunda. My dad walked up to her and said, ‘I want the top player to coach my daughter.’ Those first years I spent with her were wonderful, and it showed me that even girls can do it. There were not many girls on the circuit, so I had play and train with the boys, but I never felt out of place. I felt I belonged; I was different, but I belonged anyway.”

'It’s always a joy to see anybody who passed through my hands excelling in what they do and giving back to tennis'

Mbugua-Karani’s junior career saw her ranking peak at No.5 in Africa, and she went on to represent Kenya in Fed Cup by BNP Paribas in 15 ties between 1995 and 2001. But ask about the standout memories of her life in tennis, and she smiles widely when recalling her time as Tennis Kenya’s junior tennis initiative coordinator.

“I used to visit 40 schools around Nairobi,” she said. “There were no tennis courts so we’d use little nets, but when we brought them to the Nairobi Club, they were amazed. They had never seen a tennis court in their lives. That memory has always stayed with me. From there, some of these players have gone to the United States, some of them are here coaching, and it’s always a joy to see anybody who passed through my hands excelling in what they do and giving back to tennis.

“I love development and event planning, so whenever opportunities arose I was always very happy to do them. As that continued, I realised maybe I could put in a little more. Our President, James Kenani, has always been very encouraging. He said, ‘You know you can do this, why don’t you even go for a bigger post like Secretary General?’ It’s a tough job, but I thought, why not?  So, I got on to it and I was elected, and that has been the last five years.”

From a population of over 48 million, Kenya recorded 2,500 registered players in the 2019 Global Tennis Report, with the implementation of a new national tennis programme designed to bolster the player pool. There are 10 ranked players on the ITF World Tennis Tour, with six born in the year 2000 or later – five of them women, aided by the opportunity to play those tournaments in Nairobi. World No.240 Angella Okutoyi is the highest ranked of their 11 ITF juniors, while there are eight Kenyans in the ITF wheelchair ranks.

'This is the thing about women: once we get into a place and we do well, we attract other women to come and join us'

With Tennis Kenya’s committed approach to improving player opportunities at both the grassroots and elite level, Mbugua-Karani was invited to join a panel discussion on future-proofing tennis in an accelerated era of transformation at the ITF Annual General Meeting in 2019 alongside representatives from Cambodia, Canada and the Netherlands. It is a far cry from her early experiences at AGMs gone by, but the international conferences have proven to be a game-changer for her.

“One standout memory for me was a lesson in confidence,” Mbugua-Karani explains. “Three years ago, our President was not able to go to the ITF AGM, so I got the opportunity to go to Vietnam. I was alone and I was very scared – who will I talk to, it’s just little me! But I was amazed. I met other people, other decision-makers, I got new friends and it was a wonderful, wonderful experience. For me that was a really big eye-opener.

“Then one day I am sitting in the hall, congress is going on, and you know how congresses go – a lot of people saying this and that and people couldn’t agree. Then Katrina Adams took the microphone. She spoke so powerfully that nobody had anything to say after that. I was just in awe.

“She doesn’t realise it, but that one instance in Vietnam opened many doors for me in my head that I can do this. Since then I’ve followed her: President of the USTA, sitting on the board of the ITF, she was one of only two women, and she was a black woman too. I had never seen this, a woman sitting at the front, and I was truly amazed. I said I want to be one of those decision-makers one day. That’s what I’m working towards.”

Inspired by so many women in her own career in tennis, Mbugua-Karani is working to bring through the next generation of tennis administrators in Kenya – women such as Suzan Adhiambo, who received an ITF scholarship to study a Masters in Sport Administration at the Russian International Olympic University before returning to apply her skills in the Tennis Kenya office founded by her mentor.

“This is the thing about women: once we get into a place and we do well, we attract other women to come and join us,” Mbugua-Karani said. “Now we have such a wonderful and powerful team at Tennis Kenya.

“But one of the things that holds us women back is that we have so many excuses. I was a perfect example, saying things like, ‘I’m not ready, not yet, let me think about it, I have little kids…’ Sometimes the reasons are valid, but seeing where I have reached, I think I should have gone for it even then. When an opportunity comes, don’t wait for it to be served to you, just tell them, ‘Yes, I’ll do it.’ We should put away all our self-doubt. We are good – we are really, really good.”