Throughout his Hall of Fame 18-year NBA career, Dikembe Mutombo had a passion for blocking shots. He rejected 3,289 of them and built his game on taking points from the opposition.
Since his retirement in 2009, Mutombo has been about giving instead of taking away. He was one of the league’s great humanitarians during his playing days and he’s taking it to another level in his post-basketball life. He works tirelessly to improve living conditions for the people in Africa, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, his native homeland.
At 7 feet, 2 inches, Mutombo struck an imposing figure on the basketball court with his signature finger wave after every blocked shot.
He has become an even larger figure off the court through his Dikembe Mutombo Foundation. An example is the 300-bed hospital named after his late mother, Biamba Marie Mutombo, in 2007.
Another great passion in life is coffee. Not only is he an avid coffee drinker, but he has also launched his own company, Mutombo Coffee.
Mutombo visited St. Louis on Monday and attended a reception at the Black-owned Northwest Coffee Roasting in the Central West End. Mutombo and Northwest owner Jason Wilson greeted fans, autograph seekers and people who wanted to learn more about the coffee industry.
It was through mutual friends that Mutombo and Wilson connected on this endeavor, and a partnership developed between two Black entrepreneurs who share a common goal of making an impact socially as well as making good coffee.
“As you know in St. Louis, we’re about our business when it comes to coffee,” Wilson said.
“We take our coffee seriously and the relationship with Dikembe works out really well. The main thing is that Dikembe and I both focus on the impact, and that’s what has me excited.”
Mutombo launched his company, Mutombo Coffee, to improve trade practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Coffee beans are one of that nation’s leading exports.
His goal is to provide economic sustainability to farming communities in Africa and help the farmers have a greater economic benefit in the industry.
With the birth of Mutombo Coffee, he is also putting his support behind women farmers in his native land. Many do the painstaking work of climbing several thousand feet above sea level on a regular basis to collect the beans. Yet, they are not being rewarded economically for the effort.
“The majority of people growing our coffee are women,” Mutombo said.
“These are our mothers, our wives and our sisters and they are working very hard. We’re trying to do what is necessary to improve their lives. That has become our mission.”
Mutombo also made it clear that if people want Mutombo Coffee, it is available at Northwest Coffee Roasting.
“You can get Mutombo Coffee where I am, and that is Northwest Coffee,” he said.
“You don’t have to go online or go far away, just drive up here to see my man Jason and you can get Mutombo Coffee.”
Although he was in town to talk about coffee, Mutombo didn’t mind talking a little basketball, especially after the events over the weekend.
Nigeria stunned the USA Olympic team 90-87 in an exhibition game in Las Vegas. Mutombo was quite excited to see Nigeria pull off the biggest victory ever for an African nation in an international competition.
Earlier this year, he became an investor in NBA Africa, which manages the league’s business on the continent, including the Basketball African League.
“It was big,” Mutombo said. “It gives up hope that there will be more success to come from the African countries. I always look at Africa as a new continent that is still being discovered for the talent that we have.”