Vida E Caffe on basketball, marketing and life in Ghana.
Tucked away in the Atlantic House Complex, a burgeoning iconic feature in Accra’s retail market is boldly spelt out in red and white. The words which spell out the name of the company distinguishes it from a bevy of retail shops that reside in the nature inspire structure.
I enter a jazz filled shop on the ground floor dotted with people gathered round spots of red tables and chairs as the perfect backdrop to pristine white walls that gives the perfect embodiment of everything coffee.
Just over a year since it started business at the center of the earth, Vida e Caffe is now the one stop location for best brewed coffee. Vida e Caffe meaning life and coffee in Portugese, is a chain of retail coffee shops that serve espresso and pastries. The brand started in 2001 when the first shop was opened in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Portuguese themed brand has since expanded to other parts of the continent and now has six shops operating in Accra with five more shops coming upstream next year.
Operating in Ridge, a suburb of Tudu in Accra Central, Vida e Caffe has delved into the world of sports specifically basketball. The company sponsors a basketball team called Tudu Warriors that is participating in Ghana’s novelty tournament- the Rush Community Basketball Tournament.
The Warriors sit pretty on the standings having recorded two wins from three matches including a massive one over title favorites Nima Vipers.
In an interview with basketballghana.com, General Manager of Vida e Caffe Ghana Samir Sawma talks sponsoring the Warriors and marketing his company’s brand through basketball.
Basketballghana.com; how does sponsoring a basketball team fall in line with your company’s objectives?
Samir Sawma;its’ basically a marketing move targeting the youth who have high spirits and love new concepts.
BG; is sponsoring a basketball team part of your company’s corporate social responsibilities?
Sawma;its’ nothing special to be honest. we will sponsor other sports like football to get more people to see our new shops.
BG; so far what are the returns from sponsoring a basketball team?
Sawma; don’t know yet but I think that it will be good. It will do a good job.
BG; do you have plans on sustaining the sponsorship?
Sawma; we need to see year by year how is going because I think it will be bigger and bigger each year so we need to wait and see how things are going until this playoffs is finished and see how successful it was.
BG; do you have any plans of sponsoring other disciplines
Sawma; it depends on what time and if it is the right time for us also to do it because usually we have heeded plans for marketing.
BG; where will the new shops for next year be opened?
Sawma; specifically we have three for now, we have inside the airport, we have another beside the airport hills and we have another one coming in Osu
BG; do you have plans of having shops outside Accra?
Sawma; we are looking at Kumasi also we are looking at Tema or Takoradi.
