Afrobeats superstar Mr Eazi is backing a new sports payment model that could change how African athletes get rewarded, with winning players receiving cash directly on their phones within minutes of the final whistle.
Mr Eazi is taking his African empire beyond music, and this time, he is putting his money and influence behind athletes.
The Afrobeats hitmaker, entrepreneur and investor is backing betPawa’s Locker Room Bonus (LRB), a programme built around a simple but potentially game-changing idea:
If you win, you should get paid.
And you should not have to wait.
Under the scheme, players who feature for a winning team receive a fixed performance bonus sent directly to their mobile money wallets within minutes of the final whistle.
No chasing administrators.
No waiting for weeks.
No special treatment for star players.
Just play, win and get paid.
And the model is already moving serious money.
Sh245 million paid to athletes
Since launching in the 2022/23 season, Locker Room Bonus has spread across eight African countries, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi and Cameroon.
More than US$1.9 million, roughly Sh245 million has already been paid out to about 7,000 players.
The payments have been made through more than 51,000 individual payouts covering over 3,500 matches.
And there is one rule that makes the programme particularly interesting:
Your reputation does not matter.
Whether you are the team’s superstar striker or a lesser-known player, the performance reward is the same for eligible players on the winning side.
The same principle applies to men’s and women’s teams.
Mr Eazi says that is precisely what attracted him to the idea.
“Nobody’s being rescued here. These are real players, real wins, real money in their hands. You don’t dress that up. It has to be real. They earned it.”
From football to basketball and now volleyball
What started largely around football is rapidly spreading into other sports.
Uganda has become one of the programme’s biggest success stories.
Players in the country have earned more than UGX1.2 billion through Locker Room Bonus across the last two National Basketball League seasons, including the playoffs.
And the money has been particularly visible during championship runs.
In August, the Namuwongo Blazers pulled off a dramatic defence of their National Basketball League title, beating the City Oilers 81–74 in overtime in Game 7 at Hoima Arena.
The Blazers had trailed 3–2 in the series and needed to win twice to retain their crown.
They eventually did it, and the players walked away with more than a trophy.
Across their two championship campaigns, the Blazers’ players earned a combined UGX98.93 million in Locker Room Bonuses.
Kenya is next
Now, Kenya’s volleyball players are getting in on the action.
For the 2026/27 season, betPawa has partnered with the Kenya Volleyball Federation to introduce Locker Room Bonus into the National Volleyball League.
The deal is worth approximately KSh17.3 million and covers 494 registered players and technical staff competing in the men’s and women’s leagues.
Here is where it gets interesting.
Every time an eligible team wins, 14 players and two technical officials will each receive Sh4,000 directly through mobile money.
So for an athlete playing in Kenya’s domestic volleyball league, the reward for victory is no longer just points on the table or the satisfaction of beating an opponent.
There is cash waiting on the other side of the final whistle.
Could this change African sport?
That is the bigger question.
African athletes have long faced challenges around delayed payments, limited sponsorship opportunities and uneven professional structures.
Locker Room Bonus does not replace salaries, contracts or traditional sponsorships.
Instead, it introduces something different: a direct financial reward tied to performance.
For players, that could mean getting rewarded faster.
For clubs and leagues, it provides a structured way to distribute performance bonuses.
And for women athletes, the model puts equal treatment into the payment system itself.
The bigger ambition is clear: take a concept that works in one sport, replicate it across others and create a system where athletes can benefit more directly from their performances.
Mr Eazi is betting on African talent
For Mr Eazi, this is another chapter in his long-running push to build businesses around African talent.
Only this time, the stage is not a concert hall.
It is the football pitch, basketball court and volleyball arena.
And the reward is not applause.
It is money.
From Uganda’s basketball courts to Kenya’s volleyball arenas, Locker Room Bonus is testing a provocative idea for African sport:
What if winning actually meant getting paid immediately?
For thousands of athletes, that question is no longer theoretical.
The money is already landing in their phones.
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