Exclusive: Salomon Kalou’s Chelsea star power launches Oumé cocoa series

Hailing from the regional mid-sized town of Oumé, four hours drive from Ivory Coast’s capital Abidjan, Salomon Kalou, recalls the formative years that would leave him feeling blessed in attaining a childhood dream of playing football for his nation would go on to become fully realised, writes Neill Barston.

But like many in his profession, establishing a career beyond life at the pinnacle of the ‘beautiful game’ poses major challenge for those in the sport who often understandably face major challenges planning the next phase of their lives.

However, as the former Chelsea winger, whose roll-call of honours spans FA Cup, Premier League and UEFA Champions League winning success enthuses, he’s about to embark on a fresh adventure of a whole new order.

While chocolate and football may not immediately seem like natural bedfellows, as the eager audience before the former soccer star gathering at a smart central London restaurant, it’s tapping into these very earliest, nostalgic memories of growing up in a large West African family that offer an especially notable vision.

“As a former footballer and now entrepreneur, I am looking forward to this project. I was born in Oume, and as a young kid after school, we used to help our parents on the farm.

“I came across cacao back then, but I didn’t know for sure what it was and what products you could create from it. Growing up there was a simple life, going to school, playing football at the weekend and helping the family,” explains the 39 year-old, who finally hung up his playing boots last year after a brief stint playing in Brazil and finally, for Arta Solar 7, in the little known Djibouti Premier League in the Southern horn of Africa.

The social gathering for the Oume launch. Pic: Mustard

So, with commendable determination, he is setting out alongside his wife, Brazilian born former catwalk model, Karina Ferreira, who is set to serve as the lifestyle brand’s creative director. She appears equally passionate about their quest for creating what is though to be the first concept of its kind in delivering a truly global brand forged in the heartlands of West Africa.

A winning mentality
While finer details remain under wraps at this pre-launch gathering for the business venture, there’s little doubting the seriousness with which it its being taken. This is being underlined by the company’s recruitment of Marc Donaldson, who is also a stakeholder in the company, and is set to use his extensive experience in the cocoa trade working for one of the largest businesses in the sector to ensure that there is substance far beyond the obvious style and glamour of its celebrity faces of the enterprise.

As Salomon, whose brother Bonaventure also previously gained key success playing football for his nation, notes, it’s a matter of making people believe in your story, which he tells with genuine sincerity.

“I am very proud to have been a footballer, going from Oumé and Abidjan, and on to London, and then playing for one of the biggest clubs in Chelsea, which was a really big honour for me. It was special, as I feel that I was one of the luckiest to have come out from my home country.

“So I think that we can do the same with this product – there’s no African ranges that are becoming global, so we are aiming to be the first to do this. So, as I did with my football career, I sincerely hope that we can take a product from Oumé with this story, and make it a big product,” he notes of the cocoa series, which is initially set to be rolled out in premium milk and dark chocolate formats.

Invitees to the upscale launch are shown some smart graphics of its potential packaging, which hint at its aspirational pitch point – with the team behind the venture confirming that they are indeed setting out their vision to appeal to the high-end supermarket consumer, targeting the likes of Waitrose retail stores in the UK.

Moreover, as Salomon concludes, sometimes it takes some extraordinary measures to deliver something truly special, but adds that being your true, authentic self is what can ultimately delineate the difference between success and failure.

“It doesn’t matter where you are from, but all that matters is the story, so you have to make people believe in that story, so what we are trying to do here might seem like a dream, but I think it is possible,” he observes, gaining warm applause from the glamorous room of invited guests, including potential investors to the project.

For her part, Karina Ferreira describes some of the visual cues for the brand which were sparked by an affection for the works of the late Ivorian photographer Paul Kodjo, variously described as the “father of Ivory coast photography” who offered a vivid lens on life in the region during the past five decades, including some notable imagery of cocoa farming in the country.

Karina notes: “I think this brand is very personal to us, especially with Salomon being successful with his career. We were able to take a step back and go to the roots of it, and it just made so much sense to us in taking this path, and it all resonated with the sense of nostalgia and going home.

“It’s not just that sense of going home, but to take a sense of being there and to take it further. So Solomon finished his career, and has been able to develop something that means so much to us, and that can mean so much to so many others.

“When I saw the picture of Paul Kodjo, he was the first photographer in ivory coast putting out relevant artwork in the sector. We came across his work out of luck, and it resonated so much that we wanted to use that identity for our concept.

“We can make a brand that can bring people together and bring a sense of belonging, and through our products and the experiences can come from them, we can create a community,” she says of their hopes for its development, as part of the evening of a formal dinner and networking.

Industry experience

Speaking to Confectionery Production during the launch, Marc Donaldson, who has been named as the brand’s chief chocolate officer, shares in their combined enthusiasm.

While he acknowledges there are of course challenges in devising any new brand or series of products, he remains confident in his solid track record in industry that he believes can help deliver something truly memorable for West Africa.

Marc and Karina in conversation at the event. Pic: Mustard. More details at oume.co

As with any fresh venture, the stakes remain high, but with some celebrity backing aligned to genuine industry expertise, the collaboration holds the potential to make a major difference.

He says: “Tonight’s launch is really excellent. I had been a little bit nervous beforehand, but from speaking to everyone here, including some of the potential investors, they have been engaged by the emotion around it all. For me, Salomon is the heart of it, and Karina is the soul. 

“We’re breaking new ground with this, so to a certain extent we can’t do anything wrong, but we’re very careful and very caring people, this is not some flash-in-the pan enterprise that we have here.

“I have been in the cocoa industry for some 40 years, and I don’t think that sustainability programmes have been done very well, so we are going to have to approach our venture in a different way,” he enthuses on the future prospects for the business, which is hoped to gain its full roll-out once its recipes have been fully devised as a core part of the brand’s ambitious portfolio that is setting out on a path to place West Africa fully in the limelight alongside some of the globe’s most intriguing enterprises.