Anjali Nayar in Cameroon
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Anjali Nayar with a group of soccer fans in Cameroon
During breakfast I was entranced by the Cameroonian jersey-clad dancers, rhythmically hip-thrusting their way across my television screen. It was the music video for local musicians Ebel La Gloire and Macha's latest song: "The Lions in the image of a lion."
"Let's go the Lions, the Indomitable Lions. You are the joy of the country. Cameroon is behind you," sung Macha in the first verse. Enlightening as much as it is entertaining. I've uploaded a clip of the music video to YouTube, so you can try your luck at the accompanying body vibrations.
I headed out on to the streets, where I waded in a sea of green, red and yellow soccer jerseys, shorts, tracksuits, caps, wristbands and bandanas and that is just the beginning.
In the sky above me, there was a billboard of Eto'o "reaching for greatness" (ostensibly greatness is a Guinness beer).
Read here and see images here.
Labels: Anjali Nayar, Cameroon, Soccer, Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 12:05 PM,
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Cameroon Economy and the World Cup
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Cameroon’s participation in the 2010 FIFA World Cup helped many traders increase their turnover. The sale of sports gadgets skyrocketed and tenants of licensed premises were satisfied with the influx of customers.
In Yaoundé, banners and posters highlight promotional prices for television sets.
“Usually, we sell about five television sets per month. But last May we sold 17 units, which is a record,” explains Guy Tchamba, manager of an electronics store at the Yaoundé central market.
“Our customers are restaurants and licensed premises owners, as they want to attract more clients during matches. We also have some private customers who buy the sets for their homes,” adds Serges Atéba, also a store owner at the Yaoundé central market.
Serges Atéba also bought a lot of soccer jerseys, flags and whistles in preparation for the World Cup. The jerseys are imported from China and sold for between FCFA 1000 (€1.5) and FCFA 4000 (€6) a piece. He is not used to selling these gadgets, but he saw it as a good business opportunity. Now that the World Cup has ended, Serges Atéba has exhausted his stock of sports gadgets. He does not wish to express in figures the economic impact of the World Cup on his business, but the large smile on his face is sufficiently suggestive.
Printers have also increased their turnover. They printed pocket calendars of the matches, where fans could record scores and see details about upcoming games and combinations. The calendars went for FCFA 100 (€0.1) a piece and Simon, one of the many hawkers at the traffic circle of the central post office in Yaoundé, confirms in his own words, that “these calendars sold a lot”.
Soccer fans prefer to sit in licensed premises to watch the matches and enjoy a drink at the same time. The owners of such places capitalised on this during the showcase.
Read more »Labels: Soccer
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 2:33 PM,
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