Amazing how time fly's when you're having FUN!-) Roughly 10 years ago the Namibian kwaito musician EES - known for his patriotic love for Namibia and his so-called #NamFlava style - launched his very own vitamin energy drink called WUMA in 2010.
An Idea that sparked him while he was on the airport in Rome, Italy for a video shoot - when one of the camera people filming him said - he is always very energetic in front of the camera - he should really consider releasing his own energy drink. Right there and then he sat down to brainstorm the name of his vitamin energy drink and came up with the name "WUMA" - which is a derivation from the Afrikaans word "voema" - which means "power" - but he wanted something that also Europeans can pronounce as he had a vision straight from the start to one day also sell his drink outside of Namibia.
He definitely wanted to create an energy drink that is based on healthy ingredients such as many Vitamins, No taurine, less sugar and no artificial colourants. As he sees himself as a role model and did not want his younger fans to drink anything that could be harmful to their heart. So he teamed up with Omaruru Beverages to conceptualize the drink and special bottle wanted to look like for his vitamin energy drink. Together they worked on the project for over 1 year - and EES himself even designed the label and came up with the shape of the bottle, which was supposed to straight stand out from the rest of the beverages in the stores with its broken 3D ice look and colourful fresh look of fruits.
WUMA quickly became a lifestyle drink amongst the younger Namibian generation in the beginning and people started posing with the drink on selfies and posting them on social media. The first WUMA campaign was called the #SupportLocalFirst and it encouraged Namibians to think twice before they buy an energy drink - because all other energy drinks on the market that day and still today are all imported from the outside of Namibia. It was EES' first experience in the beverage industry - but he had a great partner from the beginning with the big distribution company African Marketing PTY Ltd. - with managing director Hendrik Röschlau who has guided EES in many of the strategic decisions - which build a special friendship between the two.
But it wasn't always just sunshine and roses - there have been some rollercoaster years in which WUMA was in some great difficulty in terms of sales and getting pushed out by some other international energy drink and beverages companies as they realised the potential threat of WUMA. With not having the massive financial backing like some of the other international brands had to get the best shelf space in the stores - EES and his team had to hang in there and do promotion after promotion to keep WUMA in the market. He definitely made sure that WUMA was seen in most of his new music videos and even sponsored and supported other artist like the Fresh Family & the Amazonkies with Drinks for their promotions etc. So the local support kept growing, African marketing kept believing and pushing the vitamin energy drink and more and more people got to experience the unique taste WUMA has and so more and more shops - now nationwide sell WUMA. From the smallest Kukashop to the large Supermarkets like Spar and PicknPay all sell WUMA.
In 2017 then was the first time WUMA was produced and sold in Germany by one of the biggest craft beer producer company called Hanscraft. But it looked slightly different than in Namibia as it was bottled in a glass bottle - as the german bottle refund system is one of the best in the world and so way more eco-friendly. Due to the connection of Hanscraft WUMA then also started to sell into more European countries like Austria and Sweden.
And this year marks the 10th anniversary of EES' unique vitamin energy drink WUMA - with a special limited edition GOLD metallic label on all WUMAS and an incredible super saver special selling WUMA for a limited time for only N$ 9,99 - N$12,99 (depending on store markup) to say thank you for everybody that has been supporting the NamFlava movement and drink and celebrate this great achievement.
So if you find one of the special GOLD label WUMA in your nearest Supermarket or Service station - do take a selfie with the drink and share it on social media with the hashtag #WUMA & #GoldEdition to then have the chance to WIN 1 year of FREE WUMA vitamin energy drink. More info of the competition on the QR code of the new gold edition WUMA bottle. We want to congratulate EES and his team to this great achievement of a local made in Namibia product and encourage all readers to support more local products, especially in these challenging times.
More info on WUMA at: www.wuma-drink.com www.instagram.com/wumavitaminenergy www.facebook.com/wumadrink