Born in Chingola, he began taking part in sprinting in 2005 and was inspired by the achievements of Samuel Matete, Zambia's first athletics world champion and also a Chingola native. Kombe had his first success as a teenager in winning two gold medals at the Southern African Development Community's SADC Games. After a third place at the South African Regional Championships, he was set to compete at the 2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics, but ultimately did not compete. In 2008 he repeated his third-place finish at the regional event.