Posted by Heritage Link Brands embodies the spirit and drive of African vintners. By helping to educate U.S. consumers about wine in Africa and sharing intriguing stories behind the wines, Heritage Link Brands has solidified its commitment to generating capital and opportunities with people whose origins come from the great continent.
In 2007, the company officially launched in 26 states. Today, the company not only imports and distributes African wine in 41 states, but its expanded portfolio also showcases wine harvested by vintners of African descent throughout the world.
In October 2005, husband and wife, Khary and Selena Cuffe founded Heritage Link Brands, LLC. It is the largest company in the United States dedicated to importing wine harvested by Indigenous producers throughout Africa and the African Diaspora.
The seeds of Heritage Link Brands´ creation were planted in 2005, at the first annual Soweto Wine Festival in South Africa. After tasting delicious wines and being inspired by the stories of Indigenous wine producers who, until 1994, were not legally allowed to participate in the Apartheid‐controlled wine industry, Heritage Link Brands was born. Despite having a $3 Billion wine industry in South Africa, often times the world does not view Africa as a destination for wine brands. The founders were inspired to share this secret gem with wine consumers.
Heritage Link Brands has been profiled in Inc. Magazine and Time Magazine as a leading advocate in bringing African wines to the United States. This growing business exemplifies the impact American entrepreneurs can have both in Africa and in the USA by combining commitment with skillful business acumen.
Selena Cuffe, President and CEO
Watch Video: Selena Cuffe Presenting at the African Entrepreneurship Platform
Who is behind this undertaking? Selena Cuffe. Prior to founding Heritage Link Brands, Selena served as the Director of Marketing for the Council on International Educational Exchange where she oversaw the promotion of student and work exchanges for over 50,000 people, worldwide. Selena received her marketing training from the Procter & Gamble Company in Cincinnati, OH where she served as Assistant Brand Manager for the Pringles brand and was primarily responsible for developing and executing marketing plans in the Latin American markets of Brazil and Mexico.
Prior to Procter & Gamble, Selena worked for United Air Lines as an Account Executive and as a Business Development Manager for United.com. During her tenure, she held responsibility for the promotion and launch of new routes and negotiating strategic online initiatives with Microsoft, Starwood, and Orbitz.
Selena graduated with an AB in International Relations from Stanford University and holds a Master of Business Administration, with honors, from the Harvard Business School. She is certified, with merit, by the UK-based Wine and Spirits Educational Trust, (WSET), serves as on the board of the Harvard Business School African American Alumni Association, Stanford University’s Bing Overseas Study Program, Export Africa Export, Global Elevation, and Business Ideas for Africa., a wife, and the mother of two little boys, Kalel and Omari.
Cuffe and her husband, both Harvard graduates, invested $70,000 in personal savings and 18 months on extensive market research and product development to make sure they had a winner on their hands. Despite growing up in California and spending some time in the famous wine-producing Napa Valley region, Cuffe never considered herself a connoisseur and admitted that in the beginning she didn´t know her Pinot Noirs from her Merlots.
The first year they sold just $100,000 but in 2009 that jumped to $1 million and they are expecting revenues to grow by 35-40 percent in 2010. Heritage Brands targets their wines to grocery stores and other consumer markets, such as Sam’s Club stores. One of the biggest challenges Heritage Link Brands faces is navigating the various alcohol laws in each U.S. state, most of which prohibit them from selling directly to consumers.
As the business has grown, Heritage Brands has branched out from just representing black South African-based wineries, to distributing wines from the broader Diaspora. This is why Heritage Brands recently secured a U.S. government-backed loan from the Small Business Administration to make sure her wines hit the palates of wine lovers attending the World Cup this June.
“Our goal is to make sure that the natural occurrences that happen around us, like the World Cup, are leveraged in such a way that we make the wines within our portfolio household names.”