Spotlight on . . .
Selena Cuffe: Heritage Link Brands, LLC
Heritage finds its niche as the first and only U.S.
company
to exclusively import African wine
harvested by indigenous producers.
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Selena Cuffe |
On a trip to Johannesburg nearly three years ago to promote an international student exchange, Selena Cuffe happened to see an ad for the first Soweto Wine Festival. Surprised that the poor township was hosting a wine event, she decided to check it out. Purveyors at the festival were black and, as she spoke with them, she learned that they had no distribution outside of South Africa. “I felt strongly that others would want to support these vintners if they produced good wine,” Selena says.
By October 2005, Selena and her husband, Khary Cuffe, had launched Heritage Link Brands, LLC, with Selena as president and CEO and Khary as CFO. They were moved by the fact that South Africa has a $3 billion wine industry, but only 2 percent is owned by blacks — who represent 80 percent of the population. Tasting the delicious wines convinced Selena. She knew that black wine producers were not allowed to own or manage their businesses until 1994 in the apartheid-controlled wine industry. Heritage Link Brands was born.
The new company opened an office in Massachusetts in October 2005 and a second office in California in February 2006. The official debut of the wines in stores followed in February 2007. The company initially focused on providing wines to specialty grocers, but in response to strong demand, the Wine Club and Shop were established in the spring of 2007.
Wines are carefully chosen from all over Africa, where viticultural soils trace back more than a million years, producing palm wine in Ghana, honey wine in Ethiopia, and grape varietals from Northern, Central and Southern Africa. The most developed market is South Africa.
One brand distributed by Heritage is Seven Sisters. “The Brutus sisters and their baby brother left their sleepy fishing village at an early age when the family was evicted from their home. They yearned to return home, but were not able to do so given the unfavorable circumstances of the time,” Selena says. Twenty years later, the sisters reunited to create fine wines. The wines — Carol, Dawn, June, Odelia, Twena, Yolanda, Vivian — are carefully selected to match the styles and personalities of each sister. Selena says the celebration of their bond and devotion to one another is a fitting tribute to sisterhood itself.
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Meanwhile, Heritage Link Brands is changing the face of the international wine industry by linking U.S. consumers to Africa in a way that has never been done before. As the Cuffes educate consumers about the wines of Africa, they share the historical, sociopolitical and economic story of the continent that serves as a backdrop for the wine. Customers are actively engaged in taste and package research before wines are selected for the Heritage portfolio.
The company founders, Selena and Khary, are deeply committed to civic leadership and initiatives that generate capital and opportunities with the people of Africa.
Selena’s background includes key roles for United Airlines, Proctor & Gamble, and the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), where she had oversight for initiatives in over 20 countries.
Graduating from Stanford University with a degree in international relations and minors in Spanish and Portuguese, she also earned an MBA with honors from Harvard University. A lover of good food, wine and travel, Selena has lived in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Guatemala, and traveled to 29 other countries for business and pleasure. Khary’s background includes roles at Prudential Financial, SEEDCO, and UBS Investment Bank. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University and masters degrees in both business administration and public administration from Harvard University. Conversant in Spanish, he has traveled to a dozen countries, including Ghana, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. They are the proud parents of a young son.
To celebrate the success of their historic young company, Selena and Khary awarded Lillian Lincoln Lambert — the first African American woman to graduate from Harvard Business School (1969) — with a complimentary trip to the 2007 Soweto Wine & Brandy Festival in South Africa last fall. Lambert was one of six black students — and the only woman — when she entered Harvard Business School in the fall of 1967. She co-founded the African American Student Union and spearheaded a drive to recruit more African Americans to the business school. Lambert went on to become a successful entrepreneur and is writing a memoir detailing her journey from the segregated South to the hallowed halls of Harvard to the business world, where she broke through many barriers.
Paying tribute to Lambert, Selena said “I am profoundly grateful for the path you paved. Your success as the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Business School and as a successful entrepreneur gives me the drive and determination to do what I do as an African American woman, entrepreneur, wife, and mother — to work to change the face of the African wine industry.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information on Heritage Link
Brands, LLC, visit www.heritagelinkbrands.com or call 888-360-WINE.
(This article is reprinted from Vol. 9, No. 2 of Enterprising Women magazine. Copyright 2008, Enterprising Women Inc. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited, except by express permission of the publisher. Would you like to comment on this article? Send a note to our editors.)
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