NBA Superstar Lebron James heading back to Cleveland Cavaliers

By Patrick R. Anderson

His departure four years ago bitterly divided the city.

His return brings with it hopes of an elusive pro title to the city of Cleveland.

Twenty-nine year-old NBA Superstar Lebron James who left Cleveland in search of NBA titles and won twice with the Miami Heat, has decided to return to his roots. In a lengthy missive in Sports Illustrated, James said: “My relationship with northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball,” James confessed. “I didn’t realise that four years ago. I do now.”

And with that, James explained why he left Cleveland and why he’s returning, noting that he has met with Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert who infamously vilified James in a public letter after James departed in 2010 for the Miami Heat.

Cleveland has not won a major pro sports title in 50 years in any of the four major pro sports in the United States – NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL – and James said although he’s not promising to win a title, he’s looking forward to playing with last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, a 22-year-old point guard in the quest to bring an NBA title to Cleveland.

James played the first seven years of his NBA career in Cleveland after leaving straight from St Vincent- St Mary High School in Akron, Ohio where he grew up.

Now the city is again primed for primetime. Now there is excitement again in rarified Cleveland air.

Their prodigal son Lebron James is coming home.

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NBA Superstar Lebron James heading back to Cleveland Cavaliers

Boom heading to Africa

WISYNCO is aiming to export its energy drink, Boom, to Africa.

The company has shelved its plans to export its bottled water, WATA, to the continent because it would be too expensive to export. It turns out, selling Boom there is a better option.“Boom can be exported because it has value, while WATA would be very costly,” said William Mahfood, managing director of Wisynco Group.The export of Boom currently makes up seven per cent of the energy drink’s total sales, but sales are growing, said Mahfood.It is still early days but a liking for Jamaica’s culture and products in several African countries makes the venture worthwhile.“The Jamaican culture is widely accepted there, so we think it’s ideal to capitalise on that,” he said. Wisynco is currently looking at the various options in Africa.It will further establish a footprint in the Caribbean, before it moves on to selling to the diaspora markets — US, UK and Canada.Boom is sold in seven Caribbean countries, with Trinidad and Tobago being the most recent market.The company, which also distributes the Red Bull Energy Drink, recently launched the Boom Shaka Boooom game for its current and potential Boom customers, but recently suspended it due to an outage on Apple’s Developers Platform — preventing Apple users from playing the game.Indeed, when the game is up and running, it will add to the marketing tools that will actively recruit an additional target audience — middle-class professionals.“We have without a doubt saturated the market of entertainers and skilled workers so we are looking to recruit new customers,” said Kimberly Lawson, brand manager, Boom Energy Drink.And since its introduction to the market three years ago, Lawson figures that Boom has half of the market share.Moreover, it’s the least expensive energy drink and is manufactured by an experienced company with a good reputation.Though only available for two days for Android users, Boom Shaka Booom had just about 186 players prior to pulling the game.And when the application becomes available for both Android and Apple users, Boom hopes to get at least 2,000 players, said Lawson.Boom Shakka Boooom is being touted as a unique marketing and promotional campaign to score more customers and ultimately improve sales, using gamification — game thinking and game mechanics — through a mobile application that is free for download.“It’s different, and we aren’t demanding that you spend anything in order to win,” she said.Boom Energy Drink is looking to add middle-class professionals to its customer base, according to Kimberly Lawson, brand manager of Boom Energy Drinks.

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Boom heading to Africa