Despite being one of the world’s leading producers of coffee, Nigeria doesn’t really have a coffee drinking culture. Like other coffee growing African countries, she exports most of her produce to other regions of the world where it is widely consumed. Until recently, Nigeria’s community of coffee enthusiasts has consisted of returnees from the diaspora and expats. The regular person on the street hasn’t cared much for espresso.
Cafe Neo, an indigenous coffee chain, is pushing for a change in this picture. The brand, which positions itself as Africa’s Starbucks, is probing the big cities with its shops and helping to begin a coffee revolution on the continent from which the dark caffeine laden beans originate.
Two brothers, Ngozi and Chijioke Dozie, founded Cafe Neo in 2012. They say it was obvious that a local coffee serving brand was needed to meet the needs of an increasingly westernized population. They did have doubts about the reception they would get; the coffee drinking public was a small slice of Nigeria’s huge population. But the idea has taken off; Cafe Neo now has several shops in Lagos, and one in Abuja as well.
The Dozie brothers speak of themselves as coffee evangelists, on a mission to entrench an African coffee renaissance across the continent. They’ve chosen to work with an interesting model. Cafe Neo’s shops are more than just spaces for sipping hot coffee; they’re also places in which bright upwardly mobile people meet to work and share ideas.
Cafe Neo Products and Services
Cafe Neo offers its visitors an assortment of coffee recipes. There’s caramel frappuccino, iced caramel latte, and latte mocha, all served cold; hot cups of espresso, cappuccino and Americano are also usually available, as are treats like carrot cakes and croissant. The coffee used is typically sourced from within Africa, in line with the brand’s afro-centric vision.
The choice of locations for Cafe Neo outlets tells a lot about its target market. They’re sited in the major business districts of Lagos’s ‘island’ area, as well as in Yaba, which is home to Nigeria’s biggest concentration of tech startups. This isn’t a coincidence; Cafe Neo also styles itself as a coworking space and provides facilities and a conducive environment for creative people to build their ventures.
Apart from supporting agile coffee drinking entrepreneurs with fine spaces and a calming ambience, Cafe Neo also sells a range of branded material. These include coffee bean bags, travel mugs, and coffee making equipment.
Nigeria’s coffee business has vast potential. It’s still in its infancy, and the enthusiasm for it hasn’t come close to what obtains elsewhere in the world. But as the country’s urban dwellers become increasingly westernized, they’ll be drinking more coffee, and growing a market for more coffee brands to jostle for. Cafe Neo is leading the way to that almost certain future.
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