Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o invests in BAL team Nairobi City Thunder

Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o announced her investment in the Nairobi City Thunder, the first Kenyan team to play at the NBA-backed Basketball Africa League (BAL), on Thursday.

Nyong'o is a citizen of Kenya, Mexico and the United States. She is the daughter of Kenyan politician and academic Peter Anyang' Nyong'o - the incumbent governor of Kisumu County - and Dorothy Nyong'o, a PR consultant who is the managing trustee of the Africa Cancer Foundation.

After her Oscar-winning breakthrough in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave (2013), Mexico City-born Lupita Nyong'o shot to fame and has never looked back.

The actress, who notably starred in Black Panther (2018), Us (2019) and The Odyssey (2026), wrote on Instagram on Thursday: "Taking a tunnel walk to celebrate that I'm an investor in the Nairobi City Thunder!

"The Nairobi City Thunder are the first Kenyan team to qualify for the Basketball Africa League, and I'm pumped and proud to be behind them. TWENDE!

"Big weekend ahead with the start of the KNBL Finals! Wishing everyone on and off the court a great time!!"

The team was founded in 1998 - initially as NSSF Stars and later International Christian Church before switching to its current name in 2010. The 2023 acquisition of the club by Twende Sports Limited -- founded by Colin Rasmussen, Sandra Kimokoti, Kush Diriye and Stephen Domingo -- sparked a new era of success.

In 2025, Nairobi City Thunder became the first Kenyan team to play in the BAL in the fifth season of the league organized by the NBA and FIBA - a feat which they repeated in the tournament's sixth edition this year.

The BAL is transitioning to a franchise model from 2027 onwards, with permanent slots in the league on offer along with limited availability for non-franchise teams seeking to qualify.

Nairobi City Thunder will face Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the national finals for a third successive year, having comfortably beaten them in the previous two.