Celebrity Co-Owner's Nigeria Pitch Raises Questions on E1 Racing's Governance Role

Team PRONC, the newly established Nigerian franchise competing in the 2027 Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) E1 World Championship, has drawn an unexpected expression of interest from Will Smith, one of the championship’s celebrity co-owners. The actor reportedly told the team’s founders at the recent E1 event in Monaco: “Hey, bring me home, guys. I want to come home.”

Richie Shittu, one of Team PRONC’s founders, recounted the exchange to FORBES AFRICA, framing Smith’s remark as a sign that the franchise is already pulling attention from high-profile global figures with a stated interest in visiting Nigeria.

The championship’s ownership structure reads like a cross-section of global sport and entertainment. Smith, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal and Didier Drogba all hold stakes in the E1 series. Smith, who starred as Nigerian-born Dr Bennet Omalu in the 2015 biographical drama Concussion, traveled to Angola in March to announce Luanda as a venue for an E1 round scheduled for September, underscoring his active involvement in the series’s African expansion.

Team PRONC was founded by Nigerian entrepreneurs Cecil Hammond, Shittu, Preye Berezi, Osahon Okunbo and Ndy Oruche. Their ambitions stretch well beyond the race circuit.

Hammond told FORBES AFRICA that the presence of celebrity team owners could reframe global perceptions of Nigeria. “Before, it wasn’t in their agenda. Now they’re all excited because we’re there. Will Smith, LeBron James, they’re saying they’d love to come to our city, see what we have and race with us.” Shittu put the potential reach plainly: “All his supporters and followers will see that he’s come to Nigeria. If he says he had a blast in Nigeria, that’s a positive thing for Nigeria, for our youths and for our future.”

Lagos became the first African city to host an E1 race in 2025, joining an established circuit that includes Monaco, Venice, Jeddah, Rotterdam, Miami and Lake Como. The city is reportedly scheduled to host another round in October.

The founders argue that regular international sporting events would generate concrete economic returns, lifting hotel occupancy, restaurant traffic and broader business activity while placing Lagos before a global audience. Shittu pointed to the city’s waterways as an underused asset. “We’re saying Lagos and Nigeria is open for global sports. Come to our city, come to our country. It’s safe, and we’re going to give you a beautiful environment to enjoy the sport.”

Hammond framed the project’s wider purpose in direct terms: to position Nigeria internationally “not just as a market, but a place to invest, collaborate and create,” with hospitality, fashion, music and tourism all part of the pitch.

The team has also committed to environmental initiatives targeting cleaner waterways and shoreline protection, developed in collaboration with local authorities. That aligns with the series’s founding rationale. Alejandro Agag, Founder and Chairman of E1, said in a statement: “E1 was created to inspire a new era of clean racing on the water, and Team PRONC underlines that ambition.”

Additional details about the team’s competitive structure are expected before the 2027 season debut. The fuller account is available at https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2026/08/02/bring-me-home-will-smith-signals-interest-in-visiting-nigeria-electric-e1-race-backers-say/

Whether a Smith visit materializes before the 2027 season opener remains the open question, and the answer may say as much about Lagos’s growing pull on the global sporting calendar as it does about one actor’s sentiment.