By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
As part of its corporate social responsibility, Coca-Cola Hellenic Company has trained many youths from the Niger Delta Region on skills acquisition.
Also, the company has helped some youths in the region to start businesses of their own and become employers of labour, thus reducing the high rate of unemployment that has been a recurrent decimal in the country for years.
Speaking variously at a media parley held at Landmark Hotel, Port Harcourt, Mr Ekine Eze, the Country Corporate Social Responsibility manager, Sade Morgan, Director, Legal/Public Affairs&Communication and Barnabas Eke, Regional Public Affairs&Communication manager, East and Central, revealed that the company, through its ‘Youth Empowered’ programme, has transformed the lives of many youths in the Niger Delta.
According to them, Coca-Cola has also empowered many women in the region through skills acquisition, supporting them with money and equipment to start their own businesses.
They said the company intervened during the flood disaster of 2012/2013 in Rivers and other Niger Delta states, donating relief materials to the victims, just as it supported the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Borno State.
On recent innovations achieved by the company, they said that Coca-Cola has mainstreamed sustainability into its system, adding that their refrigerators are now ozone layer-friendly while their bottles are lighter in weight.
They further explained that the company is committed to its social investments in the areas of education, environment, provision and use of good water for the production of its products, adding that Coca-Cola is the first company in Nigeria to embark on effluent water treatment.
According to them, Coca-Cola is in partnership with the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) which was established in 1951.
They said that Coca-Cola presently has nine plants in Nigeria, with the one in Ikeja being the largest in Africa, stressing that the company has over seven hundred million customers, thirty-nine commercial territories, fourteen depots and three thousand direct staff.
They further revealed that Coca Cola‘s investments in Nigeria from 2014 to 2023 will clock 1.1 billion euros, noting that the company’s business expansion and investment since 2017 are aimed at driving efficiency and sustainability.
