Four-time Grand Slam Tennis Champion Naomi Osaka has co-founded her own production company, Hana Kuma, and female athletic-centric talent agency, EVOLVE, with business partner Stuart Duguid.

Osaka and Duguid joined Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal as part of Yahoo Finance Invest to discuss her journey from the tennis court to the boardroom, brand partnerships, endorsement deals, and more. Here are some of the highlights.

Regarding her business journey, Osaka said, "Hana Kuma, it sees things from my lens, so we've been really fortunate to have guidance from Mav (Maverick Carter) and LeBron (James), and see their input on things. I think it's been really important in navigating through that world."

Duguid provided his thoughts on brand partnerships and the value of equity deals. He said, "I think they've seen that, if you're going to spend a year, two years giving yourself to a brand and helping it grow, you want to participate in some of the upside that's not just cash."

Video highlights:

00:00:06 - Osaka on business journey

00:00:51 - Duguid on athletes growing business empires

00:01:21 - Osaka on signing endorsement deals

00:01:40 - Duguid on signing endorsement deals

Video Transcript

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NAOMI OSAKA: My career as an athlete isn't as long as I would want it to be. So it's good just to explore different avenues and also everything that we've created is things that I'm very, very into and excited about. So it's all coming from an organic place.

Hana Kuma, on that sense, it, kind of, sees things from my lens. So we've been really fortunate to have, kind of, guidance from Mav and LeBron and see their input on things. And I think it's been really important in, kind of, navigating through that world. I feel very lucky because I'm surrounded by people that know quite a lot and they're able to guide me and give me really good information.

STUART DUGUID: On one hand, I think athletes are much more interested in taking a portion of their deals in equity and starting businesses. And I think that's just come with athletes having more access to financial information and better advice. And I think that they've seen that if you're going to spend a year or two years giving yourself to a brand and helping it grow, you want to participate in some of the upside that's not just cash. So we've seen a real change in the guard. I've seen a lot more of that recently.

NAOMI OSAKA: For me, it really starts with something organic, like I really have to truly love them or want to do something with them. Because I feel like if you're a person with, like, influence, you can't go around pushing stuff that you actually don't believe in or you actually don't use.

STUART DUGUID: I think it's a combination of products that Naomi either uses or believes in. And then I think it's important to her to have a direct line to the top, which I think, if you're an athlete and you're responsible for endorsing a brand and getting behind the brand, I think it is important to be able to have those lines of communication.

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