by Dan Perkins

In just a few hours, fans of Major League Baseball will gather around their television sets to witness the first game of the 2005 World Series championship.  This year, the excitement centers on two Cinderella teams: the Chicago White Sox, a team that has not won an American League Championship since 1959, and the Houston Astros, a National League team that has never been to the World Series.

But before balls start flying and bats start swinging in Saturday night (the first game of the World Series, which begins 7 p.m. CT in Chicago), fans of baseball and fans of minority economic development will be able to enjoy a truly unique hour of television where both subjects are blended into one fascinating discussion.

On Friday, October 21st (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT, on HBO) Bob Costas, host of COSTAS NOW, will interview David Robinson, the youngest son of baseball legend Jackie Robinson.

David Robinson was only three years old when his father helped the Brooklyn Dodgers capture the 1955 World Series championship.  Fifty years later, David Robinson is blazing his own incredible trail as an economic and social crusader.

For more than 20 years, David Robinson has lived in Africa, building and overseeing the coffee farm cooperative known as Sweet Unity Farms, which is dedicated to bringing economic opportunities to the people of Tanzania.

The farm is owned and managed by the Robinson/Mpunda family. The Robinson and Mpunda families were united when David Robinson married Ruti Mpunda, who is from Tabora, Tanzania.  The farm is located 3,800 feet above sea level on 280 acres of land in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, East Africa.  Between 1990 and 1993, forest was cleared to make way for the farm and 29,000 coffee seedlings and food crops were planted.

The Robinson/Mpunda family is not the only coffee growers in the region.  In fact, they are newcomers.  In 1994, 47 families owned coffee farms in Bara Village, where the Sweet Unity Farms are located.  But after 60 years of producing for a multi-billion dollar coffee industry, the citizens of Bara Village found themselves still living in impoverished conditions with no health facilities, no paved roads and only one miserably overcrowded school.

The indigenous Bara Village farmers and the Robinson/Mpunda family came together and over the last 10 years, the association has progressed and achieved small but significant measures of success.

An American company, Up-Country International Products, was established in 1994 to promote mutually beneficial business relationships between producers and resources on the African continent and the United States, as well as the rest of the world.  Up-Country International Products has exclusive rights to market coffee grown on Sweet Unity Farms.  The company currently sells the coffee both as green beans to coffee roasters and as a finished product to retail stores.

If sales of its gourmet coffee succeeds, Up-Country International might expand into other products including non-gourmet coffee, an instant coffee, herbal and regular teas, cocoa, cashew nuts, honey, and even non-food items such as gemstones and contemporary African Art.

The ultimate goals of Up-Country International's efforts is to improve the economic conditions and quality of life of people both in Africa and America.

David Robinson has a unique story to tell, which will debut on Friday, October 21st, exclusively on HBO, and will be repeated throughout the rest of the month.

But don't miss this extraordinary interview with this visionary and courageous entrepreneur who happens to be the son of one of greatest legends to ever play the game of Baseball.

The End