Kofi Josephs is more than an elite athlete, he is a British Basketball Champion, international record-holder, author, speaker, and mental health advocate who has inspired audiences everywhere from the Houses of Parliament to international sports stages.

Raised in Birmingham’s inner city by a single parent, Kofi’s journey has been far from conventional. At just 12 years old he was cut from the England team, and not long after, his father was murdered. By 23, doctors told him his basketball career was over after breaking his hip twice and undergoing two major surgeries. But Kofi’s response was never to stop, it was to rise.

Over the next decade, he played professionally across eight countries including Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia, earning his place as one of Britain’s top players. He represented Great Britain at EuroBasket 2017 in Istanbul, competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast with Team England, and became the British Basketball League’s all-time single-game scoring record holder.

Behind the accolades, however, were battles few could see. Panic attacks, online abuse, and a suicidal low point 4,000 miles from home revealed what Kofi calls “the curse of the high performer”, when those at the top receive the least support. Instead of hiding from those experiences, he turned them into his mission: to educate, inspire, and change the culture of mental health in sport and society.

His resilience has taken many forms. From battling severe adult acne to later becoming an internationally published model with brands like Burberry, Rolls Royce, Selfridges, Nike, BMW, Mini Cooper, Chelsea FC, and London Fashion Week, Kofi knows what it means to rebuild identity, self-belief, and confidence against the odds.

Today, he is the author of the memoir Why Not I and creator of the bespoke Why Not I Journal, a keynote speaker, and founder of Why Not I Workouts, a mental health initiative that uses elite sport to teach resilience and wellbeing to junior England and Great Britain athletes. He is also the founder of WNI Wellbeing, an AI-driven platform designed to prevent mental health issues in elite sporting environments in real time.

Kofi’s voice is trusted across industries. He has spoken at the Houses of Parliament, the Brabners State of Play Legal Conference, the 2025 Wellbeing at Work Summit, and is a spokesperson for the government-backed Lost Boys Taskforce. He is also a keynote speaker and ambassador for Andy’s Man Club, an ambassador for Neurodiverse Sport, and has worked with the NHS, Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire Service, prisons, and international corporates.

His partnerships span global brands including Nike, BoohooMAN, Clints, Claire’s, Tesco, and Jack & Jones, and he collaborated with the Commonwealth Games International Committee to restore and hand-paint a basketball court in Birmingham’s inner city for the 2022 Games.

Every part of Kofi’s story, from his unconventional rise to the top, to his international career, to his advocacy for mental health, makes him a rare speaker who can connect with any audience on resilience, leadership, wellbeing, and human potential.