Angolan multinational comes in as a gold sponsor of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival

Established in February 2007 and owned by three brothers, the company owns a chain of luxury Umosi hotel and holiday resorts in Angola, a network of Flamingo Delicassen shops, a car hire service, a construction consulting firm and agro-industry enterprises in the southern parts of the diamond-rich country. Ritek is also spreading its wings to Mozambique where the company won land concessions and is acquiring units to establish its chain of four and five-star hotels. The decision to sponsor the Cape Town International Jazz Festival is the company's signal to enter the South African market. “The decision to sponsor the Cape Town International Jazz Festival is part of Ritek's internationalisation strategy and establishing the Ritek brand in Southern Africa. What better way to do this than to be part of the world's fourth-largest jazz festival in the world?” asked the company's CEO Antonio Cristovao. The company's Angolan owners and management hope to use the festival that draws the cream of South Africa's corporates to network and form partnerships.

Ritek's vision to sponsor the Cape Town festival is to tie the company's hospitality and tourism subsidiaries with the music in the Sothern African region. “Tourism is linked to culture,” stated Cristovao in his recent visit to Cape Town. “If you want to attract tourists to your country and region, the most important asset that you have is your culture.” The agreement that Ritek has with EspAfrika - the organisers of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival - includes the staging by the two organisations of the Luanda International Jazz Festival in July this year. In addition to organising Africa's Grandest Gathering, EspAfrika are organisers of Maputo International Jazz Festival launched in April 2008.

It is in Mozambique that EspAfrika's director Billy Domingo met Cristovao through a mutual friend. “Antonio asked us to help them set up the Luanda International Jazz Festival. As a result of what was clearly a shared business ethos, Ritek did not hesitate to come on board when we asked them to be gold sponsors of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. Talking about the linkup with Ritek, EspAfrika's other director Rashid Lombard could not stop referring to the synergies that exist between his company and its Angolan partner. “Partnering with Ritek opens up new possibilities for us here in Southern Africa. Not only will it cement cultural ties that have been buried between the people of the region, it will link us with other sounds in the diaspora - creole music, Brazilian rhythms and Afro-Cuban music. Let us not forget that no other country contributed to the slave trade more than Angola. Slaves from that country took their music all over the place. Our link with Ritek provides the opportunity to bring it back home.”

Ritek's sponsorship of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival together with other three gold sponsors - the Department of Arts & Culture (DAC) South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), could not have come at a better time for the organisers. Earlier this year Standard Bank pulled out as a long-standing gold sponsor of the festival. “It is quite ironic that we had to look beyond our shores to keep the festival viable. We are really grateful to Ritek. The connection between us and Ritek is a good example of what we can do as Africans - show faith in our creative industries,” says Domingo.