The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Life Reporter
BULAWAYO businessman Phathisani Nkomo’s dominance in Bulawayo’s entertainment industry continues to grow beyond measure, as he recently opened an upmarket spot — Copa Cubana in the heart of the City of Kings.
Nkomo, one of many successful businessmen to emerge from Bulawayo runs some of the most patronised adult night spots in the city, which include: The Lounge, Stunts, Eden (partnership), Bootleggers Bottle Store and recently Copa Cubana.
He spoke about his rising empire, where he reminisced of how he had not strayed from his career — tourism and hospitality.
“I have been in the tourism industry before. When I started working, I worked for a touring company, where I was involved in organising conferences and incentive travel. I was tasked with organising trips or getaways for some huge corporate companies, where I would be responsible for booking their travel tickets, accommodation, meals and so forth including their entertainment calendars. I then worked for Shearwater for a number of years and left to start my own thing and I haven’t stopped since,” said Nkomo, before explaining the concept behind Copa Cubana.
Copa Cubana is an upmarket restaurant and pub that seeks to cater for the upper class society.
“Cuba in the 60s was the hub of entertainment for the elite. That was before the revolution. Cuba was renowned for entertainment, all casinos and leisure hubs were found in Cuba. This was particularly in the 60s. We have however, borrowed if not bettered that concept to provide the best entertainment. Cuba was always exciting and that is what we seek to do. The idea behind Copa Cubana is to provide entertainment for the elite Zimbabwean,” he said, adding that he was inspired to run an upmarket spot after visiting a classy one in South Africa a few years ago.
He said Copa Cubana would cater for those that could afford to patronise it.
“Generally during the day it’s more of a restaurant and we will focus on providing a healthy and sumptuous affordable menu,” he said, revealing that the partnership was between him and his partner from Eden nightclub — Ilan Wiesenbacher.
“This is our second partnership with the first establishment being Eden. If ever there’s an opportunity and the need arises to tackle it I wouldn’t let it pass,” he said differentiating his other spots.
“Stunts caters for the ordinary Bulawayo citizen, Lounge caters for the middle-class, while Eden and Copa Cubana cater for the elite.”
Copa Cubana officially opened its doors to a multi-racial crowd on Wednesday. Among those at the restaurant and pub were standup comic Carl Joshua Ncube and his wife.
Copa Cubana seeks to bring a serene and refreshing atmosphere to the elite people of society.
“As time goes on we have plans to introduce a Havana, more of a smokers section. It will be a first in Zim where people can smoke cigars and shishas. Entertainment will vary once we publish our entertainment directory. Of note we want to introduce Latino nights where we will try as much as possible to play Latino music,” said Nkomo.
Twitter: @peterkmatika
